


Jonnor Please!

by benjji2795, G8rguy



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic), The Fosters (TV 2013)
Genre: Jonnor - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-12 08:21:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 50,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5659387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benjji2795/pseuds/benjji2795, https://archiveofourown.org/users/G8rguy/pseuds/G8rguy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jude Adams Foster is ready to go to college and he wants a fresh start away from Anchor Beach and California.  After a disappointing high school career including his senior year as the only gay kid in their school and never having even one date, Jude wants to be somewhere he can start over.  After submitting his portfolio, he is admitted to a number of schools to pursue an art degree but one school stands out as a place known to be accepting to gay and lesbian students...something Jude thinks he is ready for...but is he ready for Samwell University?  After meeting an upperclass Art Major named 'Lardo', Jude gets invited to a party at the Hockey Team's House to meet the new frogs.  Will Jude finally find love on ice?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Jude stepped out of the rental car and smiled. He heard Lena and Stef shut their doors as they all looked at the freshman dorm where he will be living for his first year at Samwell University.

“Excited hon?” Stef says coming around the car and grabbing him in a hug.

“Yes!” Jude sighs in satisfaction. Deciding to attend Samwell was a big deal for Jude but he was very excited, even if it meant that he was far from his California home. Samwell was known as a very liberal and gay friendly university and after his struggles at Anchor Beach, he needed a fresh start. Though they had a strict anti-bullying policy, Anchor Beach also lacked anything resembling a gay student body. When Jude came out to his family junior year, he had not met another gay teen except Callie’s friend Cole. He didn’t know anyone else and his circle of friends was pretty small and mostly female. Maddie, Taylor, Chelsea, and Daria had all become his friends in 7th grade and they had made a tight circle that lasted till graduation.

Maddie had been the first person he ever told he was gay outside his family and she helped him come out to the rest of the girls. By his senior year he was out at school and hoped that maybe, just maybe, someone else would come out too but it didn’t happen. He did have a crush on one boy on the baseball team, Jake Murphy, but it was more of a wish than reality as he was dating Tina Gunderson, the captain of the cheerleading team, for all of senior year as the power couple. The worst part was she was actually really nice and supported Jude when he came out so he couldn’t even resent her.

But now, now he was starting over at Samwell and he was very excited to be somewhere no one knew him and he could be whoever he wanted. It took some serious convincing to get his moms to agree, but with his grades, his grandmother Sharon’s college fund, and some scholarships…Jude could cover going to Samwell. 

His moms helped him move his stuff in to his dorm room where he met his roommate Thomas, an econ major from Philadelphia, who was nice. They went out for supplies for his room and groceries and got the room set up. They went to their hotel to check in and Jude got to meet several of his fellow freshman before going out for dinner with his moms. They came over in the morning before their flight to walk around campus for a while, stopping at a cool coffee shop called “Annie’s” before they hugged and left for the airport leaving Jude all on his own for the first time since Callie and Brandon had rescued him.

He was also excited because Brandon was at Julliard in New York and Mariana was at MIT in Boston, which made his moms and Mariana really happy.

Jude had liked Samwell’s reputation, but what really excited him was the reputation of the Samwell Fine Arts program. As an Art major, Jude jumped into the program on his first day and had a blast. He loves his classes, his teachers, and his fellow art students. One of his TAs in art theory helped Jude connect with Professor Janis who had reviewed Jude’s portfolio of paintings and was interested in mentoring Jude.

Jude had started painting not long after coming to live with Stef & Lena and the rest of the Adams-Fosters before being adopted and discovered he had real talent. He loved it and was really good at it. He had looked at several art schools, but something about them didn’t sit well with him like Samwell did.

Jude spent the first half of the semester loving life. He had friends, a great faculty mentor, and a campus that constantly surprised him. The one drawback? No love life yet. One, because he wasn’t out yet at school. It wasn’t that he was in the closet but he just hadn’t really talked about things. And two, he was a hopeless romantic who had watched way too many romance movies and might have read one too many Nicholas Sparks books. But he was busy and that’s what matters most.

He was working in the studio about three weeks before Halloween when a voice startled him. “Nice” she said. Jude turned around and saw a very short girl with purple highlights in her hair staring at his painting. “Like how you painted the lights and shadows on her face.” Jude had painted a stylized portrait of Mariana from her Quinceañera standing in between shadows and sunlight. 

“Thanks…it’s my sister” Jude said wondering who the girl is.

“Doesn’t look like you” she said with a quirked eyebrow.

“Adopted” Jude smiled.

“Who’s the guy?” she asked curiously.

Jude was surprised. He had painted Jesus, but only in shadows and in empty spaces so that you didn’t see him if you looked directly at it, but he had tried to create the impression he was there without including him and he was impressed by her perception.

“That’s Jesus…Mariana’s twin. I wanted to include him but not take away from her since the Quinceañera is for her” Jude explained.

“What’s a Quinceañera?” she asked.

Jude explained about the celebration that serves as a coming of age for Latina girls and that leads into the story of Mariana’s party and the drama. The girl, who introduced herself finally as Lardo, invites Jude for coffee and he ends up sharing his life story to her, much to his surprise. It turns out she is a junior art student who is also being mentored by Professor Janis so they end up spending a lot of time together over the next few days. Jude loves hanging out with her for her razor sharp wit, something that Jude has missed since he last saw Taylor, and she laughs when he gets her back.

And her artwork is amazing! She is much more avant garde than Jude but she knows technique, style, and history. She introduces him to many of the upperclass art students so he makes even more friends on campus. 

“So Jude” Lardo says a few days before Halloween “got any plans for Halloween?”

“Nothing in particular” Jude admits. “There are some things happening in the dorms, but nothing really major…why?”

“Well, some of my bros on the hockey team are having a party at their house and I wanted to know if you wanted to come?” she asked him casually.

“You hang out with the hockey team?” Jude asks surprised.

“Actually” Lardo laughs at his reaction “I'm the team manager. They are my boys” she tells him proudly.

Jude laughs knowing that she probably has half the team scared of her and the other half hopelessly in love with her. Lardo is one of the most interesting people he knows and he totally can see her overwhelming giant hockey guys. At 6’2 Jude is not short, but he is lean and lanky, but she intimidates him without trying. They talk for a while before he agrees to come and he just shakes his head at going to a party at a house on frat row.

Apparently the big part of the party, Lardo tells him, is the introduction of the ‘frogs’ to the team…officially. The deal is that for the first part of their freshmen year, new teammates (called ‘frogs’) get initiated to the team before being full-fledged members. This party will be their first one as teammates, though not their last. Lardo tells Jude that they have a party for winning a game, losing a game, any holiday, and sometimes for no reason at all, but the one thing you can count on is that all of the partys are epic.

The night of the party comes and Jude is walking across campus trying not to laugh. Lardo has dressed as a hipster Disney princess, Belle to be precise, and got two other girls to dress as hipster Ariel and hipster Snow White. Jude stayed with the theme and is going as hipster Aladdin. They walked into a house that looked like it had seen a lot of living but the amazing thing was the smell. There was the most amazing aromas of cinnamon, pumpkin, and nutmeg that Jude had smelled outside of Lena’s kitchen.

Lardo laughed at Jude’s reaction. “That’s Bitty” she told him. “He is one of the players and he bakes the most amazing pies. And everything else” she adds after a moment. Leaving the other girls who had made a line for the keg, Jude and Lardo go through a door where they are overwhelmed by the amazing smells and a very short baker dressed as hipster Peter Pan. Jude laughs and the guy looks up and smiles this amazing smile. “LARDO!” he yells. “Honey you look amazing!” 

He comes over and gives her a hug before turning towards Jude. “Hipster Aladdin” he smiles and Jude can really hear a southern twang. “Sweetheart that is perfect on you!” he says before dashing to the oven and pulling out a tray of cookies that look amazing but the smell nearly causes Jude to faint.

“What are those?” Jude asks feeling his mouth water.

“Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin Cookies” Bitty replies happily as Lardo hands Jude a cup with beer in it and smiles at his expression.

They stay and chat for a while and Jude can’t believe that Bitty is on the hockey team. In addition to baking he is a former figure skater, but now plays on the hockey team and according to Lardo, he’s really good on it. Jude and Eric, Bitty’s real name he discovers, connect almost instantly when Jude starts talking about his mama and grandma Dana’s cooking, much to Eric’s delight. Jude discovers he has a vlog and makes a note to check it out later.

“BITTY!” these two giants yell as they come bursting in the kitchen. “You have to come. Time for the frogs to face the Haus!” the blond one, Jude later learns is called Holster, says. Eric laughs and all three of them leave the kitchen to head out to the main room where the crowd has gathered. 

A guy with a serious mustache and flowing hair is standing there, beer in hand, demanding silence as he points at four guys kneeling on the ground in front of him. “That’s Shitty” Lardo says with a smile.  
Jude looks at her. “What’s so shitty about it?” he asks.

Lardo looks at him and laughs. “No…the guy with the ‘stache. His name is Shitty and he’s a senior on the team.” Lardo smirks and laughs again at Jude’s face. Why would they call him that he wonders.

“Attention Samwell friends and family. You are here for the ‘Naming of the Frogs!’ A time honored and sacred ceremony whereby we toss aside the names you came in with for your Samwell University Men’s Hockey Team names. These names you shall forevermore be known by!” Shitty announces very pompously to much laughter.

“Ransom” Shitty calls out one of the giants from the kitchen. “Go first!” he commands.

Ransom walks up to the first guy, a red head with a lot of freckles. “William Poindexter!” he announces “from this day forward you shall be called…DEX!” 

The whole crowd yells “HELLO DEX!” catching Jude by surprise. Ransom and Dex walk off to the keg.

“Holster” Shitty calls on the other giant.

Holster walks up to a guy with a very heavy scruff and a tattoo on his arm, though he looks more hipster than Jude at the moment. “Derek!” he announces “from this day forward you shall be called…Nursey!” he yells.

The whole crowd, Jude too this time, yells “HELLO NURSEY!” Holster and Nursey follow the first two to the keg where it appears they are getting a celebratory cup.

“Bitty” Shitty calls and Jude sees Eric walk up to stand behind a guy with braces who is smiling so hard Jude wonders if his face is going to break. “Chris Chow!” Eric calls out and Jude smiles at how he is smiling at the guy kneeling there. “From this day forward, you shall be called…Chowder!”

The whole crowd yells “HELLO CHOWDER” and Jude laughs at how Chowder’s face lights up with joy and excitement as he and Eric walk off together.

As Eric and Chow are moving off the guy in front of Jude finally moves and he can see the fourth guy kneeling in front of the crowd and Jude catches his breath. The guy is, in a word, beautiful. Dirty blond hair, beautiful eyes, and a smile that lights up the room which is hard to do after Chowder and Eric but he does. Jude swallows and feels himself growing hot and flustered by this guy.

“Captain!” Shitty calls out. “As is tradition, will you do the honor of introducing our last frog?”

Everyone claps as Jude sees a tall, really good looking guy walk up. Dark hair and blue eyes with the most amazing ass he has ever seen on a human being! This must be the famous Jack that everyone talks about. He smiles, but Jude recognizes the reserved and controlled way he stands in front of the crowd.

“Connor Stevens!” Jack yells “from this day forward you shall be called…Con!” 

“HELLO CON” yells everyone except Jude who says it quietly with a twinkle in his eye.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hey…if you’ve been around both the [Check, Please!](http://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com/post/57705111693) and the Jonnor fandom for a while, you probably know who I am…but it’s been a while since I’ve written anything for Jonnor, but I was very intrigued by the concept of this fic, and G8rguy was gracious enough to include me as a co-writer on this.
> 
> That being said, for the most part, my writing is going to be focusing mostly on how the story develops from Bitty’s POV, and with that in mind, I have an important note regarding some of the content of this chapter: I know that by October of Bitty’s sophomore year (where this story is starting), he doesn’t know about his crush on Jack (that doesn’t happen until December, just before EpiKegster), but to serve my/our purposes, I’m speeding the timeline up just a bit.
> 
> Hope y’all enjoy this chapter and I can’t wait for y’all to see how the story is going to develop :)
> 
> \- Benjji2795

Bitty was in the kitchen making Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin cookies while the party started.  Well, it was basically right in the middle of the kegster, and thankfully the team was already halfway to too schwasted to care, or else the chirps would’ve been incessant.

 

“Baking during a kegster, eh?”

 

Strike that, _most_ of the team was already halfway to too schwasted to care.  Of course Jack wouldn’t be, but all the same, Bitty expected Jack to be hiding out in his room.

 

“I’ll have you know this ain’t that unusual—which you would know if ever did more than just stayin’ in your room during kegsters,” Bitty chirped back.

 

Jack shrugged.  “Your costume looks good.”

 

“Thanks,” Bitty flushed and grinned shyly.  It was an innocuous statement, and Jack didn’t really mean anything by it, damn his brain for going there.

 

“So are you supposed to be—”

 

“I’m going to stop you right there Jack,” Bitty said, putting a hand up to stop Jack in his tracks.  “I will _not_ have you slandering the name of a celebrity here in my kitchen.”

 

“ _Your_ kitchen?” Jack questioned, the corners of his mouth quirking up slightly.

 

“Yes, until any of y’all can make something other than eggs, this is _my_ kitchen,” Bitty spluttered, the tips of his ears going red.

 

Jack threw his hands up in surrender, an amused look on his face.

 

“And I am Peter Pan, surely you’ve heard of that?” Bitty chirped.

 

“The boy who never grew up,” Jack answered.  “Well you have the look to pull it off.”

 

“That’s kind of why Lardo gave me this costume,” Bitty said, desperately trying not to blush again at Jack’s off-handed compliment.

 

“Oh yeah?”

 

“Yeah, she wanted to do a hipster Disney theme,” Bitty explained, busying himself in cookie batter as he did to avoid letting Jack see his face.  “They’re all hipster style—”

 

“I gathered that,” Jack remarked.

 

“Oh hush you,” Bitty retorted playfully.  “I’m Peter Pan, Lardo’s Belle and she has a couple of friends coming, one as Snow White, one as Ariel and another as Aladdin.  What about your costume?”

 

“Can’t you tell, I’m dressed up as a Canadian hockey robot, eh?” Jack replied slyly.

 

“As if you’re not ‘dressed up’ like that every other day,” Bitty chirped and Jack chuckled good-naturedly at the jab.  “Now tell me, what is the hockey robot doin’ bein’ outta his room tonight?”

 

“There’s the frog initiation tonight,” Jack stated simply.

 

Bitty blinked.  “Oh my goodness!  I completely forgot!  Oh, I should probably go check on Chowder!” he exclaimed, absentmindedly shoving a cookie sheet in the oven and setting the timer.  Jack chortled at him softly and Bitty ignored the small flip his stomach did, pushing his way into the crowd to find Chowder.

 

Chowder, it turned out, was fine with the other frogs looking out for him (and by fine that meant mostly trashed, but at least he wasn’t completely schwasted yet), so Bitty returned to the kitchen.  Jack was now absent and Bitty sighed, returning to his cookies and pushing away the disappointment that Jack didn’t hang around.

 

He was just about to pull out the last batch of cookies when he heard two people laughing behind him, one that he knew and another that he didn’t, but that one was recognizable enough for Bitty to know who it was.

 

“LARDO!” he shouted over the din of the party, flinging himself at her.  “Honey, you look amazing!”

 

Lardo made a grunt of acknowledgement and Bitty turned to find a boy standing shyly next to her, looking just a little out of his element.  He was tall, 6’2” (or about the same height as Ransom, Dex and Nursey), with brown hair and dark, intense eyes.  He was wearing an Aladdin costume, which made him part of the group that Lardo had talked about bringing to the party.  His costume suited him quite well, and Bitty decided to tell him as much.

 

“Hipster Aladdin,” he smiled sweetly, trying to put him at ease as much as possible.  “Sweetheart, that is perfect on you!”

 

Before he could say anything else, it occurred to Bitty that he still hadn’t taken his cookies out of the oven, and if they stayed in much longer, they would burn.  He let out a small squeak and spun around, striding over to the oven to take them out, knowing that Lardo would follow him over (as would the other boy, who was sticking closely to Lardo).

 

“What are those?” the boy asked, clearly entranced by the cookies (not an uncommon thing for people who have never seen or smelled any of his baked goods before).

 

“Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin cookies,” he replied cheerily, setting the sheet on the cooling rack and accepting the drink that Lardo had (somewhat suddenly) procured.  “They’ll be cool in a couple minutes if you’d like one—uh,” he continued, pausing when he realized he didn’t know the boy’s name.

 

“Jude,” he said, sticking out his hand.

 

“Oh!  Like The Beatles song!” Bitty said, perking up excitedly as he shook Jude’s hand.  Jude’s expression momentarily shifted to one of annoyance, looking like he was about to roll his eyes.  Bitty felt sympathy for him; he must have had to hear that every time he introduced himself.  “Dear Lord where is Jack?  I swear if that boy doesn’t know The Beatles I’ll never be short on chirpin’ material!  Anyway, I’m Eric, but you can call me Bitty,” he added, quickly redirecting.

 

“Chirping?” Jude asked, looking thoroughly confused.

 

“You got this Bits, or should I get Ransom and Holster?” Lardo smirked, and Bitty swore he could hear strains of a theme song floating out over the party noise.  Jude must have noticed it too, because he was looking around the kitchen curiously.

 

“Goodness no!  It ain’t that hard to explain,” Bitty answered and the music ground to a halt.  It was way too early to introduce Jude to Ransom and Holster.  He had just stepped into the Haus for the first time, for heaven’s sake—there was no need to expose him to the bro terrors yet!  “Chirpin’ is just like a kind of teasin’.  It’s all in good fun.”

 

Jude looked more bewildered than before, Bitty would’ve guessed because of their mention of two guys named “Ransom and Holster”.

 

“Why would uh—Jack—not know who The Beatles are?”

 

Okay, so he was confused as to why Jack might not know who The Beatles were, which for someone who had never met Jack, was a reasonable reaction.

 

“Jack lives under a cultural rock,” Bitty shrugged, giggling softly.  “Can you believe that until we met, he didn’t even know who Beyoncé was?”

 

If Jude’s eyes were any indication, he was just as shocked as Bitty remembered being when he found out.

 

“You’ve got be fucking with me.  How could he not—everyone knows Beyoncé!”

 

“That’s what I said!  But sweetheart, I would never joke about something as serious as Beyoncé, I swear Jack didn’t know!”

 

“Well I think I’m going to leave you two to talk,” Lardo interjected with a smirk, slipping away quietly.

 

By then, the cookies were cool and Bitty offered one to Jude, who took one bite and began making nearly pornographic sounds (also not an uncommon reaction to a first bite of one of his baked goods).

 

“I haven’t anything that tasted this good since the last time I was home,” Jude moaned.  “These are almost as good as the stuff my Grandma Dana makes.”

 

“What kind of things does she make?” Bitty asked, perfectly happy to talk about baking and continue to ignore the party (something his body would thank him for in the morning).

 

So they chattered on, talking about pies and cookies and Bitty’s vlog, and all kinds of other things.  The conversation flowed pretty easily, and it was actually kind of nice to be talking to someone who wasn’t a “bro” (and actually knew pop culture, since Jack did actually fit the first category, but not the second).  Eventually they were interrupted by Ransom and Holster barging in.

 

“Bitty!” Holster yelled as they burst into the room.  “You have to come.  Time for the frogs to face the Haus!”

 

Bitty laughed and excused himself, following them out.

 

“Bro, you’ve got Chowder,” Ransom commented.

 

“As if I was gonna be lettin’ anyone else christen Chowder,” Bitty snorted as they entered the living room, which had cleared out to give them room for the ceremony.  Bitty nodded and went to stand in front of him, noting with concern that he seemed to be having trouble staying upright.  Once this was over, Bitty was going to be taking Chowder back to his dorm.

 

“Attention Samwell friends and family!” Shitty shouted with fake grandiose and Bitty giggled slightly.  “You are here for the ‘Naming of the Frogs’!  A time-honored and sacred ceremony whereby we toss aside the names you came in with for your Samwell University Men’s Hockey Team names.  These names you shall forevermore be known by!”

 

Bitty rolled his eyes at the last bit as in some circles, he was definitely still known as Eric.  First up was Ransom, giving Will his new name as Dex, then Holster giving Derek his new name as Nursey, the crowd roaring as each player was given their name.  Bitty gave Chris his new name as Chowder, and then Jack gave Connor his new name as Con.  The crowd cheered and Jack used the distraction from the commotion to disappear just as quickly as he had appeared to take part in the ceremony.

 

“Alright Chowder, time to get you home,” Bitty said as the party resumed around them.

 

“No, it’s okay, I got him,” Con said, stepping in.  “I haven’t really had anything to drink.  Jack told everyone off when I said I didn’t want to.”

 

 _That boy,_ Bitty thought to himself, shaking his head fondly.  Carefully, he examined Con, trying to decide whether he trusted him with his sweet sunshine goalie child.  “Make sure you get him some water before you let him go to sleep, and leave him something to take in the morning.  Lord help him, his hangover is going to be horrible,” he directed Con, deciding that Chowder would be in good hands.

 

“Will do Bits,” Con replied, giving Bitty a reassuring smile as he put an arm around Chowder and hefted him to his feet.  Chowder didn’t really seem to notice that he was now standing, his head lolling forward towards his chest.

 

Bitty returned to the kitchen, looking to preoccupy himself to forget his worry over Chowder.  He cleaned the whole place, making it spotless (noting out of the corner of his eye that while he did, Jude had joined Con and Chowder on their way out), but once he finished that, there wasn’t much left in the way of distractions.  He did notice that most of the cookies he had baked earlier had been eaten, with just one left.  Quickly, he swooped in and nabbed it, making his way up the stairs towards Jack's room, knocking gently when he reached it.

 

Jack answered, looking a little ruffled and maybe slightly irritated, but he grinned slightly when he saw the cookie Bitty was holding.

 

“Thought you might like one of these,” Bitty explained, his face feeling a little hot from the sight of adorably sleep-ruffled Jack.  “This was the last one left.”

 

“Thanks Bittle,” Jack replied, his voice sounding a little gruff.  “Now make sure to get some sleep, like I was trying to do.”

 

“Oh my goodness, I woke you up, didn’t I?  I’m so sorry!  And lord, you’re not trying to tell me that we’re having checking practice tomorrow?” Bitty asked, sounding fondly exasperated.

 

“It’s okay, and no, but you need to stay rested.  We’ve got a game this week, eh?” Jack answered.

 

“Alright Jack.  Good night,” Bitty said, smiling at Jack softly.  “Oh and Jack?  Thanks for looking out for Con.”

 

“Yeah, of course.  Night Bittle,” Jack said and then closed his door gently.  Bitty ignored the warmth in his chest by scurrying back down the stairs to check on Dex and Nursey.


	3. Chapter 3

Connor stood in his dorm room excited for tonight. Tonight he would become a full and official member of the Samwell Men’s Hockey Team and he got here on his own! Being the son of a professional athlete has never been easy for him, especially the son of the famous Adam Stevens, former star of the Arizona Diamondbacks, with three World Series rings. His father had played baseball in college and had racked up an impressive set of statistics before being picked up by Arizona and playing with them for 16 years while becoming a household name. And that was just for being an athlete then there were his endorsements and the fact that he dated, married, and divorced the famous fashion model and movie star Amanda Davies, who had remarried some European financial guy less than a year after they divorced and moved to Monaco leaving Adam a single father with a four year old Connor to be raised by nannies with the occasional visit by his grandparents.

While his dad had pushed him to get involved with sports, preferably baseball, Connor who had been competitive by nature knew he wanted two things. First he wanted nothing to do with baseball and being compared to his dad, and second loved sports and competing. But he wanted to play something as different as possible. On a trip with his grandfather to visit New York, since his dad was in the playoffs that year, he got to attend a Rangers/Bruins hockey game and that was it!

From that moment on Connor became a hockey nut and begged and pleaded till his dad gave in and let him take lessons. Connor was a natural and quickly developed significant skill playing with others until his dad, upon retiring from his professional career, suddenly noticed that his high school son played a sport he knew nothing about and it was too late to change. Adam instead had thrown himself into working with the Diamondback organization and a number of endorsement deals and left Connor to his own interests as long as he didn’t bother his father or cause him any embarrassment.

He had even been invited to play in the US national juniors after a rather impressive career in high school but he decided he wanted to go to college instead. Connor didn’t really see himself as a professional athlete like his dad, for a number of reasons, so playing for a college team was good enough for him.

After looking at a number of schools and getting some pretty generous offers, Connor was leaning towards Michigan when he saw an interview with Bad Bob Zimmerman where he talked about his son playing for a small school near Boston…Samwell University. Now Connor knew all about Jack Zimmerman: from his time in the Q, to his dynamic duo years with Kent Parson (who now played for the Las Vegas Aces), to his public meltdown before the draft. It was sad but Connor had always felt sympathy for another son of a famous athlete and had felt that the story that everyone told about Jack didn’t quite ring entirely true.

Deciding on a whim to check out the Samwell Hockey Team, he was pleasantly surprised to learn that their team was pretty decent. But it was seeing the comments and articles about the Samwell “reputation” with the LGBT community, “one in four, maybe more,” people said with a smirk, which sold Connor on the school. Being Adam Stevens’ son was tough enough for him normally, but he didn’t know if he could handle the pressure and disappointment that would come from his father if he was instead known Adam Stevens’ **gay** son, so he had pretty much stayed in the closet since middle school. He had only kissed one boy before coming to Samwell and that was a dare during a game of Spin the Bottle with a straight guy from the baseball team who was so drunk he didn’t remember, though his girlfriend did and teased him about it mercilessly.

Connor remembers his first day on campus moving in to his dorm. He was by himself, naturally, as Adam had some “thing” in New York to do so, once again, Connor was on his own. But he really preferred it that way. His father had been surprised by Connor’s decision to come to school here, but they had a good academic program for Connor as he wanted to go pre-med, and when he casually mentioned he would be playing with Bob Zimmerman’s son, his father had been impressed enough to agree. Not without his usual snide comment of “bet he is glad to have a son who takes after him” that Connor had heard numerous times before.

He had missed the spring campus visit with the other freshmen, but Connor had been offered a scholarship from the coaches based on his interest and their communications with his high school coach. Coming to campus and their first meeting, Connor loved it! He had gotten to meet Jack, who was the team Captain, and all of the other players and they were great. The other first years, or frogs as they were called, who would be his teammates were also pretty cool. He really loved the manager Larissa, who everyone called Lardo, and one of the seniors, Shitty, who would probably cause his dad an aneurism if they ever met, was awesome. The biggest surprise though had been meeting one of the sophomores: Eric Bittle or Bitty. He was short, blonde, southern, and apparently a baker of some of the best pies that Connor had ever tasted. A former figure skater (!) he joined the team and had become the unofficial heart and soul of the team. He lived in the hockey house (The HAUS) on frat row and pretty much owned the kitchen and according to the d-men Ransom and Holster, he kept them all fed with real food that made the café something to endure. He was sweet and kind, Connor had a gift basket in his room when he arrived full of baked goods and Samwell stuff, and to Connor’s stunned excitement, he was as gay as the day was long!

Now Connor knew that he shouldn’t believe in stereotypes, but he had overheard some of their teammates talking about it very casually and not at all concerned, upset, or bothered. It was no different from how they talked about anyone else. Instead of trying to hook him up with a girl, they were looking for a guy for him. Connor had been so excited when he found out.

However the best part was that while everyone knew, no one cared! Connor couldn’t believe it that here was a hockey team, a group of guys, that if he wanted to, he could be out and proud with and they wouldn’t care. He wasn’t out of course, not with his dad, at least not yet, but it was good to know that they would be cool once he was ready.

As sweet as Eric was though, he definitely wasn’t Connor’s type. No, if he was being honest with himself, Connor much preferred the tall, dark, and broody types. The tortured artist, the musician, the guy who didn’t say much but when he did it would blow you away, those were the types of guys who always caught his interest. Connor wore his heart on his sleeve way too much and he knew that if he was ever with someone like Eric it would be a disaster. He needed someone to balance him, not be like him.

**At the Party**

Connor walked into the Haus for the party and smiled a huge smile. It was a madhouse of fun and people, all dressed up in costumes for Halloween. He had dressed as Maverick from Top Gun and was wearing the green flight suit and aviator glasses allowed him to play the hot shot pilot/romeo to the hilt, especially since he didn’t wear a shirt at all and the suit was unzipped to past his belly button. He had been warned that when they did their initiation tonight, he would be in his underwear, so he planned accordingly. Besides, while Connor might not be out, he really was proud of how hard he worked in the gym and like to show off every once in a while, especially since he knew he had a pretty good set of abs.

He had gotten several stares and even a few compliments since he arrived. He was also fairly sure that the pinch on his ass was from either the girl dressed as Alice from Wonderland or the guy beside her dressed as one of the Spartans from 300, he wasn’t 100% sure so he just smiled and moved on. He had grabbed a bottle of water when he was suddenly engulfed in a bear hug by the dynamic duo, Ransom and Holster, dressed as Flash and Green Lantern, who pulled him towards the keg.

“Bro, lose the water! You have to have your inaugural beer from the keg!” Ransom yelled at him over the noise of the crowd.

“Sorry guys” Connor said smiling. “I don’t drink.”

Connor got very nervous from the sudden looks of glee on the guys faces when he said that. They both grabbed him and yelled “Beer Virgin!” and started dragging him but Connor twisted away and in a blink had put several people between him and the towering guys who were chasing after him laughing. He moved towards the wall when he saw Jack coming out of the kitchen and he paused seeing him.

“Jack! Grab the beer virgin!” Holster called over and pointed at Connor.

“You’ve never drank before?” Jack asked smiling at Connor.

“I have actually, in middle school” Connor told him and saw Jack’s face get confused. “Long story, but basically me and some friends snuck into one of our friend's house to grab some of her dad’s booze and he woke up, thought we were intruders, and came down and fired his gun and I got shot in the foot” Connor told Jack as Holster and Ransom joined them. “Since then I am really not interested in drinking…too many bad memories” he finished.

“Guys” Jack said firmly, looking at the two d-men who suddenly stopped pulling on Connor, “no booze!” in his captain's voice.

“But Jack!” Holster started to whine.

“Does Shitty need give you the lecture on consent, personal choice, and individual freedom of expression?” Jack said slyly.

Both guys shivered “Not again” they said in unison. “Sorry Connor!” Holster said with an apologetic smile “but it is time to get ready so come on!”

Connor followed them, grateful for Jack’s support, as he joined the other frogs as they stripped down to boxers. Shitty was telling them what to expect when he asked if they had all drank from the keg. He was startled when he discovered Connor hadn’t but when Holster explained why and how Jack had ordered them to stop, he paused and smacked both of the d-men on the back of their heads and started yelling at them about personal freedom and consent before telling the new recruits about the ceremony.

Connor laughed. They really did the whole hazing thing like from movies, but they also made sure that the guys knew it wasn’t real or serious. They wanted them to bond with the team, but no one would get hurt, abused, or humiliated. Shitty had even assured Connor that they had a teammate who came from an alcoholic family who never drank a drop in four years and no one thought less of him for an instant!

After the naming of the frogs, Con, his new name wasn’t really original but it was fine, had noticed this guy who made him stare. Tall, brown hair with a brooding look and a pair of black horn rimmed glasses and dressed as some version of Aladdin(?) was standing with Eric who was dressed as a kind of hipster Peter Pan…ah, now he got it…hipster Aladdin. And he had seen several others dressed as hipster Disney characters at the party. Eric was worried about Chris…Chowder he corrected himself, who apparently could not hold his liquor and was completely trashed.

“Chowder, you okay” Connor asked his teammate who was swaying and not in a good way.

“I don’t feel so good” Chowder said sounding sad.

“Alright Chowder, time to get you home,” Bitty said kindly looking at the now slightly green frog.

“No, it’s okay, I got him,” Con said, stepping in. “I haven’t really had anything to drink. Jack told everyone off when I said I didn’t want to.”

Eric looked at him and Connor could tell he was weighing whether or not to let Connor take care of Chowder or not, but Connor had heard that he didn’t like to leave his kitchen unprotected during parties at the Haus.

“Make sure you get him some water before you let him go to sleep, and leave him something to take in the morning. Lord help him, his hangover is going to be horrible,” he directed Con. Connor just nodded amused by his mothering.

“Will do Bits,” Connor replied, giving Bitty a reassuring smile as he put an arm around Chowder and hefted him to his feet. Chowder didn’t really seem to notice that he was now standing, his head rolling forward towards his chest.

He leaned over and Connor was about to lose his grip when all of a sudden there was support on the other side as the hipster Aladdin had jumped over to support Chowder’s other side. “Need a hand?” he asked with a smile.

“Thanks!” Connor smiled at him as they maneuvered Chowder out the door and headed towards the freshmen dorms. “I’m Connor by the way” he said looking over at the tall brunette.

“Jude” he said smiling over Chowder’s rolling head. “But aren’t I supposed to call you Con?” he teased.

Connor groaned. “It’s a hockey thing” he told Jude. “The team will call me that, but they don’t expect others to. But since most of my friends called me that too, it doesn’t really matter” he laughs softly.

“So” Jude said slowly “basic questions: where are you from, major, why Samwell?” Jude asked with a smirk.

Connor laughed at how many times he had been asked that. “Phoenix, pre-med, hockey scholarship” he gave the quick version. “You?”

“San Diego, art, Art program rep” Jude said and then they had to deal with Chowder who suddenly dashed to the bushes to throw up ending their conversation. They finally got Chowder to his room, got water in him, and left him with more water and some aspirin for the morning by his bed before they headed out.

“Well that was exciting” Jude said sarcastically.

“You don’t like parties?” Connor teased him.

“I do” Jude said with a sigh “but I don’t drink which makes them slightly less enjoyable as the evening goes on. Every gets stupid pretty quick and watching a bunch of drunk friends is exhausting” he tells Connor.

“Yeah” Connor replies sympathetically. “I don’t drink either.” Connor tells him about his middle school adventure and the negative reaction towards alcohol that he has. “What about you? Why don’t you drink?” Connor asks.

Jude is silent for a few steps before turning to the blonde beside him. “When I was six, my dad and mom went to a party. My dad drank a lot and when they were driving home, he got in an accident” Jude said, sadness evident in his voice. Connor felt bad for asking when he continued. “He hit another car and the driver of that car died as well as my mom.” Connor’s breath froze in his throat. “My dad went to prison and my sister and I went into the foster system since we had no other relatives” Jude said simply.

“Jude…I’m so sorry” Connor said putting his hand on the brunettes shoulder and squeezing in sympathy.

“We were lucky…we got adopted by my moms and now I have a great family. Two brothers, two sisters, and grandparents even. And when dad got out of prison I was even able to talk with him and so it ended up okay” Jude said with a slight smile.

“How long were you in the system” Connor asked after a few minutes.

“Six years” Jude replied and after a few steps realized that Connor wasn’t next to him. He turned back and saw Connor standing there with a look of horror on his face. “What?” Jude asked.

“Six years?” Connor whispered. “Man that…dude, I’m sorry!”

Jude was surprised by his reaction. Normally people were just uncomfortable when they heard about his life story, but Connor seemed to be horrified by it and Jude could see the other boy’s emotions written clearly on his face. “Con…it was a long time ago. I was adopted at 12 by my moms and they have been amazing. My time in the system sucked, but I’m one of the lucky ones. I found a permanent home that I will have forever. My mama always told us that ‘DNA doesn’t make a family, love does’ and I know that I am loved” Jude smiled warmly and Connor started walking again amazed at the boy beside him. “Besides…I have friends who have had it worse and they never went into the system. Just because you live with your family doesn’t mean your life is great” Jude said and Connor could definitely agree with that statement!

It took about five minutes to get to their dorm, turns out they both lived in Henry Hall, though on different floors. Connor smiled as they split up and Jude felt a sudden flush on his face as he thought ‘this is a mistake’. He crashed and figured he wouldn’t see the blonde again for a while.

Unfortunately, he was wrong. He was walking to the dining hall for breakfast when he heard Connor yelling for him and running up to him. They walked together and ended up talking throughout breakfast. From that point on it seemed that Jude kept running into Connor several times a day. He was even dragged over to the Haus one night for a Mario Kart tournament which put him in the position to be pressured by Lardo about the manager position.

By Wednesday he had agreed to come to their hockey game and Jude really wanted to run from all of this but he knew he wouldn’t. Connor was hot! Blonde, hazel eyes, and an amazing body and most of all…he was so nice. Jude knew how this would end. He had experienced it at Anchor Beach when he had developed a huge crush on Scott from the wrestling team. Falling for a straight boy only led to heartache and Connor was so typical of the “Jock” that he could pose for magazines.

This thought led Jude to some very inappropriate thoughts about Connor as an underwear model and a rather cold shower to try and rid himself of that image. He knew the more he hung out with Connor, the worse his crush would get. The problem was that Connor was so sweet and cool and fun that Jude liked being around him and it seemed that Connor really liked being around him as well. He was so screwed.

 

**At the Hockey Game**

After nearly a week of meals, study hours, random encounters and a trip to the coffee shop Jude was fairly certain he was screwed. He could barely concentrate when he was around Connor as he just kept zoning out looking at him when he wouldn't notice and when they were apart, he was either kicking himself for being so stupid or wondering what Connor was doing.

There was a pretty decent crowd in Faber for today’s game against Providence College and Jude had managed to get a seat near the Samwell Team so he could talk to Lardo every so often. The team was doing good as far as he could tell. The team was ahead 2-1 in the final moments of the second period and the frogs finally got some time playing and Connor, Nursey, and Dex were all on the ice giving Ransom and Holster and another guy who Jude didn’t quite catch his name a break.

Nursey and Dex were doing awesome as they dodged around the rink, the Providence guys trying to block them when Dex shot the puck backwards and suddenly Connor, who had been hanging back, surged forward towards the goal. After Jack checked on of their guys, Connor took a shot and the puck slid right in the net. 3-1!! The stands were yelling, Jude along with them, as Connor looked up, face glowing and a huge smile on his face at scoring his first goal in a college game. He was pulled into a hug with Jack and Shitty as they were all celebrating. But Jude only had eyes for the blonde who held his stick up in triumph. The team went on to win the game and as the team were celebrating he was pretty sure he saw Connor wave over at him. Yep…he was so screwed!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have too much to say about this chapter, other than I hope I didn't go too overboard with Bitty's southern accent...if it was too much, let me know in the comments please.
> 
> Enjoy the update :)
> 
> \- Benjji

Bitty was walking across the South Quad on his way back to the Haus for the afternoon when he spotted Jude walking in the same direction.

 

Jude was bundled up, much like Bitty was himself, wearing what looked like at least two coats, a scarf, gloves and a beanie.  It was 47°F, almost warm for an early November day in Massachusetts—that is, if you were from anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line (you could usually tell who those people were, for they were usually the ones wearing shorts— _shorts_ ).  For everyone else, it was practically frigid.  Jude had his hands in his coat pockets, shoulders hunched over to brace himself against the chill, and his eyebrows were furrowed, a deep frown etched into his face.  When he looked up and caught sight of Bitty, he waved and slowly jogged over.

 

Observations about Jude’s state of dress aside, Bitty was interested in getting the chance to talk with Jude again.  They really hadn’t since the night of the frogs’ initiation, and over the course of the week since then, he’d started to become a constant fixture around the Haus, and, surprisingly, that wasn’t because of Lardo.  Whenever Con arrived at the Haus, it seemed, without fail, there was Jude, trailing just a step or two behind him, and Bitty wasn’t quite sure why.  With the lone notable exception of Lardo, art majors weren’t generally the kind of people who got along well with hockey bros.

 

“Hey Bitty,” Jude said when he caught up, interrupting Bitty’s internal musings.

 

“Oh hi Jude,” Bitty replied brightly, falling into step beside him.  “Where are you headed to?”

 

Jude shrugged. “I’m not sure.  Just—wanted to walk, I guess.  Try and get some space to clear my head, you know?”

 

“I suppose I do,” Bitty drawled.  “It’s somethin’ Jack does _all_ the time.  Lord, I swear that boy’ll be fixin’ to go for a walk at all odd hours—even if it’s in the middle of a goshdarn _blizzard_ , if you can believe that.”

 

“Who would even _want_ to go out in a blizzard?” Jude asked, his face crinkling up in confusion.

 

“Must be a Canadian thing,” was all Bitty could offer in response.  “Though I can’t say I’ve ever seen Ransom join him, so I don’t know.  Maybe not.”

 

Jude quietly hummed in response before walking the next little ways in silence.

 

“So I saw you came to the game last night,” Bitty said, in the interest of making conversation, when it seemed pretty clear Jude wouldn’t be the one to start it back up.  “Couldn’t help but notice Lardo was in your ear the whole time.”

 

“What?  Oh yeah.  I think she’s trying to recruit me to take over for her as manager,” Jude answered, grinning slightly.

 

“Well you are the first person I’ve seen in a while who ain’t gone runnin’ screamin’ from the Haus after a couple hours with the boys.  In fact, I think they might be takin’ a shinin’ to you,” Bitty laughed.  They very rarely had visitors to the Haus—at least, visitors that weren’t frogs and weren’t coming by because there was a kegster.  Jude was actually the first that Bitty could think of from over the whole of his time at Samwell.

 

“They’re good guys, if a little odd sometimes,” Jude shrugged.

 

“ _A little odd?_   Oh _sweetheart_ ,” Bitty giggled, shaking his head fondly.  “After livin’ with those boys for a while, I can assure you that they’re the craziest bunch of people I’ve ever met.”

 

“Yeah well, I swear sharing a room with my brother, Jesus, felt a bit like living in a frat house sometimes, for the number of girls he would bring home—or would at least _try_ to bring home, I can’t tell you how many times he got caught—and the number of times he snuck out and came home drunk.  The hockey boys and the Haus is honestly child’s play compared to that, at least, it is so far.”

 

“Huh.  Your brother sounds like an interestin’ character.  A bit like Ransom and Holster, you know?” Bitty remarked.  From the stories they told, Ransom and Holster were like that in their high school days too.  Oddly enough though, if the stories were to be believed, it meant that college had actually mellowed them out quite a bit.

 

“Oh, everyone in my family is an interesting character,” Jude chuckled.  “I mean, we’re a pretty unusual family to begin with.  Two moms, five kids, four of them adopted, with one musical prodigy, one borderline genius, one professional athlete, and one very dedicated, nearly famous social activist.  I’m actually the least interesting person in my family, and that’s saying something when you’re the gay child.”

 

“Goodness!  You’re right that’s—that’s definitely unusual,” Bitty exclaimed in shock.  Jude’s family sounded like the sort of thing you’d only see on a TV show; it was hard for Bitty to imagine such a family actually existing.  “You’d certainly never see anythin’ like that back in Georgia,” he added.

 

“Yeah, I know—I mean I’ve heard the stories about what the South is like,” Jude replied, a little more subdued.  He paused and frowned.  “I can’t imagine a place like that was too good to you when you were growing up,” he continued after a moment.

 

“Bein’ a bakin’ figure skater/hockey player who hated football, huntin’ and fishin’ certainly did make a lot of people think they could take one look at me and think they knew everythin’ there was to know about me,” Bitty shrugged, trying to sound light and missing the mark, sounding more bitter instead.  He came to Samwell to get away from all of that, and it worked better than he could’ve hoped.  He finally had the freedom to be himself, so now he was trying to get over his pent-up anger over how he was treated throughout his childhood, something that was proving to be much harder.

 

“The same thing happens when you’re a gay foster kid with a dead mom and a dad in jail.”

 

“It seems like you and I have a lot in common,” Bitty commented.  “I mean, not the thing about your parents, but like, our situations, the way people were always judgin’ us.”

 

“Yeah, I guess so,” Jude agreed as they approached the Haus.  Jude stopped, standing at the bottom porch step awkwardly.

 

“Why don’t you come in and have some pie?” Bitty invited, motioning for Jude to follow him up the porch steps.

 

“Oh um,” Jude hesitated, biting his lower lip anxiously.  “Is—is anyone else here?”

 

“I don’t think so.  Schedules are such that I’m usually the only one here right now, so unless someone’s class got canceled or somethin’, it should just be you an’ me,” Bitty explained, very curious as to what caused Jude’s sudden hesitation.

 

“O-okay, I guess then sure,” Jude replied, reluctantly trudging up the steps.

 

“I thought you said you didn’t have a problem with the boys,” Bitty pointed out, leading Jude into the kitchen.  The boys were honestly the only thing Bitty could think of that would make someone scared to enter the Haus (besides maybe it’s condition, which, okay, sure it was rundown, but it was still mostly sturdy and safe), which made Bitty think Jude might have been lying before.

 

“I don’t!  It’s just—”

 

“Somebody obviously did somethin’.  Tell me, who do I need to be cuttin’ off from pie?”

 

“No one!  It’s—it’s not their fault,” Jude mumbled.  “It’s not anyone’s fault except mine.  I’m just stupid, you know?”

 

“Now where do you get off, thinkin’ you can talk about yourself like that?”

 

“Because it’s true,” Jude sighed.  “I should know better by now than to—than to fall for someone who’s straight.”

 

“I—yeah, I might know a thing or two about that,” Bitty replied sympathetically, his heart skipping a beat; of course that would explain why Jude had been around the Haus—why he was always showing up with and being around _Con_ this whole week.  It was something that Bitty wished he didn’t understand, but he did—far too well.  “You want to go get some coffee?”

 

“But we just got here, and I thought we were having pie?” Jude asked him, confused.

 

“Yeah, but I ain’t havin’ this conversation here when the boys could be walkin’ in on us at any second.  That might be embarrassin’ to the both of us,” Bitty explained, hurrying Jude back towards the door.

 

“Yeah, okay,” Jude replied, letting Bitty lead him out.

* * *

 

“It’s just the worst, ain’t it?” Bitty asked when they sat down.  Going to Annie’s would run the same risk as being at the Haus, as it was frequented by the majority of the hockey team; so he picked the most remote, obscure place he could think of; a dingy, dimly lit, and frankly sketchy coffee shop on the very edge of campus.

 

“What?  Oh—yeah.  I just—you’d think—you know, after it happened the first time—I’d have learned,” Jude sighed heavily, stirring his coffee half-heartedly.

 

“I don’t think we ever learn,” Bitty scowled, intently studying his coffee cup as he tried to phrase his next thought.  “At least, I don’t think I have—I’m thinkin’ that I’ve just got better at ignorin’ it and movin’ on, I guess.”

 

“How are you supposed to ‘ignore it and move on’ when you see them _all the fucking time_?” Jude retorted dryly.  “No matter what I do, I just can’t avoid him!”

 

“I know what you mean and I—I haven’t figured that out yet.  Nothin’ I’ve been tryin’ has worked so far either,” Bitty shrugged, taking a sip of his drink.

 

“Trying?” Jude said, scrunching his eyebrows up thoughtfully.  “So you’re in the same boat right now?”

 

Bitty’s eyes went wide as he slumped down in his chair.  _Damn_ , he hadn’t meant to bring his situation into this.  “Yeah, you could say that.”

 

“You mind me asking who it is?” Jude questioned cautiously, leaning over the table intently.

 

Bitty thought over his question carefully.  On the one hand, Jude seemed like a pretty trustworthy person, someone who wouldn’t go blabbing to Jack when he found out.  He wasn’t even sure that Jude had even ever _talked_ to Jack before.

 

But on the other hand, Jude was around the hockey team a lot, and the last thing he needed was someone thinking it was their place to try to meddle, maybe dragging the rest of the guys into it.

 

But on the third hand (if he’d had one), Bitty was starting to reach his breaking point.  It was so hard to keep this all inside and have no one to talk to about it.  With Jude, not only could he talk to him about his hopeless crush, but Jude would truly understand.

 

“Jack,” Bitty finally whispered, his voice barely audible over the background noise of the coffee shop, and then immediately wished he hadn’t.

 

“Wow, and I thought I had it bad,” Jude frowned, leaning back away from the table.

 

“Yeah, I—wait, what about you?” Bitty asked, pouncing on the opportunity for diversion, even though he pretty much already knew.

 

“Connor,” Jude answered, blushing bright red.

 

“Yeah, Con is a nice guy.  And you’re right, he does seem pretty straight.  But you never know, with this bein’ Samwell and all,” Bitty quickly replied, hoping to direct this conversation as far away from him and Jack as possible.  He just—maybe he wasn’t as ready to talk about it as he thought he was.

 

“As if I’m just going to go up to him ‘Hey, Con, did you go to Samwell because you’re not straight?’” Jude said sarcastically, and Bitty snorted, caught off-guard by it.  He could now see why Jude and Lardo got along well—they both had incredibly sharp wit and used sarcasm heavily.

 

“I ain’t sayin’ I’m recommendin’ that,” Bitty giggled.  “But I am sayin’, I might be willin’ to do some diggin’ for you,” he offered, laying a hand over Jude’s as a sign of support.

 

“Thanks, but it’s only been a week.  Maybe it’ll just go away on its own,” Jude shrugged, giving Bitty a small smile.  His words sounded hopeful, but his face suggested he didn’t believe them.  “I’ll uh—I’ll offer the same for you,” Jude added hesitantly.

 

“Goodness, that’s awful kind of you!” Bitty exclaimed in shock.  “But I’m not—I don’t want—Jack’s graduatin’ in May and he’s my best friend and captain and I don’t want to mess that up.  Once we’re not seein’ each other every day, I’ll—I’ll be able to get over him just fine,” he continued, just as hopeful as Jude, and he was also just as unbelieving of his own words as Jude.

 

“Alright,” Jude said, taking a drink of his coffee.  “So—you want to talk about it more?”

 

Bitty took a breath.  To the hell with not being ready to talk about it, he needed to get this off his mind, so he took off, chattering away to Jude about all the reasons he was so far gone for Jack Laurent Zimmermann.  Jude shared all of his reasons for his crush on Con, and when it was over, Bitty felt relieved at being able to share everything that had been weighing on him for weeks, and Jude seemed to feel the same way.  At least now they were both in this together.

* * *

 

It sort of became a regular thing for them, going to get coffee every week at the same secluded coffee shop, where they shared their frustrations at being in hopelessly in love with straight boys.  Somehow, despite these things taking place at a time when no one on the hockey team was around the Haus, they had found out about these coffee “dates” and since Jude was still around all the time, had decided to pester both of them about it to no end (Ransom and Holster especially).  And all of that led to the most awkward encounter in the kitchen one cold Saturday afternoon in early December.

 

“Yo, Bits, bro,” Holster declared as he entered the kitchen with Ransom.

 

“Bro, so you know Winter Screw is coming up,” Ransom continued without pause, not waiting for Bitty to acknowledge them.

 

Bitty groaned in protest.

 

“It’s a _tradition_ , bro,” Holster argued.

 

“Yeah, and we promise your date’s not gonna suck this year,” Ransom said.

 

“Or should we say, he is going to _literally_ suck,” Holster added with a smirk as Ransom high-fived him over Bitty’s head, while Bitty cursed his face for flushing so quickly at the innuendo.

 

“I ain’t s-so sure about that,” Bitty stuttered, ducking out from under them.  If he wasn’t in the middle of baking a pie, he would’ve made a mad dash for his room at this point, but with that out of the question, he instead opted for hiding under the table.

 

“Come on Bits, we already know you like him,” Ransom pleaded as they both crouched down at either end of the table, blocking Bitty’s escape routes.

 

“Yeah, just let us tell you who it is bro,” Holster said, flashing Bitty an encouraging smile.

 

“If I let you tell me, will you leave me alone?” Bitty asked, crawling towards the middle of the floor under the table.

 

“Maybe,” Ransom answered.

 

“But we make no promises bro,” Holster continued.

_Close enough._

 

“Fine, who do y’all think is my ‘perfect match’ for Winter Screw?” Bitty questioned guardedly.

 

“Jude,” they both replied with great enthusiasm at the same time, making Bitty jump.

 

“Oh my _Lord_ ,” Bitty squeaked, scrambling out from under the table.  “Jude and I—we are not like _that_.”

 

“Huh?” Jude said inquiringly as he walked into the kitchen.  Bitty couldn’t stop himself from covering his eyes as Ransom and Holster descended on him like vultures.

 

“Jude!” Holster exclaimed, placing a hand on Jude’s shoulder.

 

“Just the bro we wanted to see,” Ransom said, moving to stand on the other side of Jude, effectively sandwiching him in between them and trapping him there.

 

“Since when am I a ‘bro’?” Jude questioned, eyebrows shooting up in confusion.  Ransom and Holster started speaking rapidly, seamlessly alternating sentences and leaving Jude dizzy.

 

“Well Lardo said you were going to be her successor,” Ransom began.

 

“And you’re around the Haus all the time anyway.”

 

“So basically you’re an honorary member of the team.”

 

“That _totally_ makes you a bro,” Holster pointed out emphatically.

 

“And also makes it our solemn duty to find you a date for Winter Screw.”

 

“And we were just talking with Bits here.”

 

“We had the most brilliant idea, right Holtzy?”

 

“Yeah, we totally did Rans.”

 

“I guess what we’re trying to say is—”

 

“You and Bits totally should to go to Winter Screw together,” they finished in unison, stepping out from beside Jude to high five (since Jude was significantly taller than Bitty and they couldn’t do it over his head).

 

Bitty stared at Jude, whose face was scarlet (as Bitty was sure his was too) as he studied the kitchen’s dirty tile floor.  There was a few long seconds of awkward silence before Bitty gathered his wits again.

                                   

“Shoo!” he commanded, grabbing a towel and swatting at Ransom and Holster.  “Y’all get out of my kitchen so we can discuss your ‘brilliant’ idea!”

 

“Those boys I swear,” Bitty murmured, quietly returning to work on his pie while he waited for Jude to process it all.

 

“Look Bitty,” Jude sighed.  “You’re definitely cute and a great guy and all that—but, no offense, I don’t really look at you like that.”

 

“No offense taken, I don’t look at you like that either,” Bitty chuckled.  “But here’s the problem—those boys ain’t gonna let up on us.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean, now that they got this idea in their head’s, they ain’t gonna let it go until we—well until we find our own dates or give in and go together, I guess,” Bitty explained, leaning up against the counter.

 

“So we can’t tell them no?”

 

“We _can_ , I just ain’t sure that it’ll mean much to them,” Bitty shrugged.  “But I suppose they won’t _force_ us to do it—they’ll just try to annoy us until we say yes.”

 

“So you’re saying we should play along?”

 

Bitty let out a strangled groan as he put his pie in the oven.  “I don’t know.  I’m just afraid if we do, _they_ will get the wrong idea about us.”

 

“We don’t even have a fucking chance with them, why does it matter what idea they get about us?” Jude asked pointedly.

 

“I can’t stop myself from hopin’, I guess,” Bitty admitted, beginning to aggressively scrub the dishes.

 

“I can’t either,” Jude said, exhaling loudly.  “What do we do then?”

 

“I—maybe we play along?” Bitty offered up hesitantly.

 

“But—”

 

“We play along, and we really play it up.  Exaggerate, so it don’t seem all that believable, you know?  Ransom and Holster will eat it up and—well, hopefully, everyone else will see through us.”

 

“What if they don’t see through it?”

 

“Ain’t nothin’ we can do about that.  We’ll have to deal with if—”

 

“What are Ransom and Holster _doing_?” Con said, bursting into the kitchen and startling both of them (but Jude especially).

 

“Oh Lord help us all, they’re hittin’ up everyone about Winter Screw today,” Bitty sighed, pointing Con towards a seat at the table.

 

“Why do they keep asking me ‘what’s my type?’ and—” Con mumbled a few unintelligible words, blushing deeply.

 

“Con—” they shouted, and Bitty could hear them stumbling down the stairs.

 

“Back off, y’all are still not allowed back in my kitchen yet!” Bitty yelled, planting himself at the base of the steps and stopping them in their tracks.

 

“But _Bits_ —” they both whined.

 

“Two words.  No. Pie,” Bitty said sternly.  Their eyes went wide and they both scrambled, falling over each other in their rush to get back up the stairs.

 

“Threatening pie?  This is a serious matter, eh?” Jack chirped, startling Bitty.  Bitty turned around, clutching his heart as Jack grinned slyly at him.

 

“Yes, it _is_ , Mr. Zimmermann,” Bitty replied once he gathered himself (not an easy task, with Jack’s windswept hair and slightly flushed cheeks from the cold outside).  “Ransom and Holster are fixin’ to traumatize poor Con over getting’ him his Winter Screw date.”

 

Jack shrugged sympathetically.  “He’ll have to let them if he can’t get his own date.  It’s in the team by-laws.  Even I had to deal with it when I was a frog.”

 

“Thanks Jack,” Ransom said, flying past them, as they hadn’t made it far by the time Jack had stepped into the Haus.

 

“You’re the best, bro,” Holster added.

 

Bitty rolled his eyes and trailed them into the kitchen, where they had already descended on Con.  Con was shrinking in his chair, desperately trying to escape Ransom and Holster.

 

“Jude and I agreed to go as dates,” Bitty blurted out, in the interest of distracting them for a few minutes, hopefully to let Con slip away.  Everyone turned to look at him.  Ransom and Holster had huge smirks on their faces, Jude was blushing and studying the tile beneath his shoes, Jack appeared in the entryway to the kitchen with an unreadable expression on his face, and Con gaped.

 

“Bro,” Holster grinned.

 

“What did I tell you bro?” Ransom replied.

 

“Hashtag Jutty!” they both shouted before high-fiving and leaving, dragging Con with them.  Jack headed up the stairs at the same time, leaving just Bitty and Jude in the kitchen again.

 

Bitty pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, sighing deeply.  Con was definitely shocked by the news, which seemed like an unusual reaction to your best friend getting a date.  There was definitely something up with Con.  And Jack was—well, Jack, meaning Bitty had no idea what he thought about it.  But it would be stupid to think that Jack actually cared, or at least felt anything beyond detached interest.

 

“What a terrible ship name,” Jude finally remarked after a couple of long minutes of silence, shaking his head as he stood up and headed for the door.  “I’ll see you later Bitty.”

 

Bitty nodded.  “Sorry about all this.”

 

“It’s at least a little bit amusing,” Jude chuckled.  “I guess the question now is whether we can pull it off.”

 

“Yeah,” Bitty agreed, despite the sinking feeling overtaking his stomach about the whole thing.


	5. Chapter 5

Connor wasn’t really in control of his own feet or body at the moment as Ransom and Holster pushed him along before he crashed down on the infamous green couch. They were talking to him, saying something about his type or likes but he wasn’t really paying attention. Jude and Bitty were going out? But…Connor couldn’t make any sense of that. He didn’t even know that Jude was gay! Sure he was an art major, from California, attended Samwell, was really sarcastic and had a wicked sense of humor…okay he probably should have known, but they had never really talked about it and now he is dating Bitty?

“So come on Con, tell us what you look for in a date?” Holster’s question punched through the fog.

“Brunette” was the first word out of Connor’s mouth. “I like brunettes” he repeated tonelessly.

“Okay…anything else? Tall, short, favorite attributes?” Ransom demanded of him.

Connor wanted to get out of here but he couldn’t move. “Tall…smart…soulful eyes” he muttered.

The guys were silent for a minute before Holster suddenly laughed so loud that Connor looked up in shock. “Oh, I know exactly who!” he crowed. “Daria!” he said looking at Ransom whose eyes lit up.

“DUDE!” Ransom yelled as they high fived. “She is perfect! We will call her” Ransom promised Connor and the next thing he knew they were running up the stairs leaving Connor alone in the living room. Seeing his chance he made for the door to get out of here and figure all of this out. Walking out the door he almost collided with the person walking up the walk.

“Bro!” he heard Lardo yell and he looked up narrowly avoiding the collision. “Where are you tearing off to?” she asked.

“Uh…I got to go…sorry” Connor muttered and took off leaving her standing there looking after him confused.

Lardo walked into the house and heard voices in the kitchen and walked in to see Jude and Connor talking and she felt a strange tension in the air. “Hey guys. Any idea what’s going on? Con almost ran me over trying to get out of here” she asked them after nodding hello.

“The poor boy was attacked by Ransom and Holster. They are on a crusade to get everyone dates for Winter Screw” Bitty told her with a sigh. “Last I saw him, he was firmly in their clutches being dragged out of the kitchen.”

Lardo snickered at that thought. “Better watch out Bitty…I am sure that they will be coming for you soon then” she said warning him as she pulled out a glass to pour herself some ice water and sitting down at the kitchen table.

“Too late” Bitty sighed.

“Awww, sorry” she said not sounding sorry in the slightest. “Who did they pick for you?” she asked him with a smirk.

“That would be me” Jude told her. Lardo’s eyes widened slightly before she looked over at Bitty for confirmation and when he nodded in agreement she set her glass down.

“Well, that’s…unexpected” she finally said looking back and forth between them. “Not sure I would have thought of that” she said slowly. “How are you feeling about this Bitty?” she asked looking at him.

Bitty took a deep breath and turned around to look at her with a big smile on his face. “It’s great Lardo!” he chirped. “I mean we do have a lot in common and Jude is really sweet so it should be lots of fun, right Jude?”

Lardo looked at Jude who was watching them with a strange expression before he smiled back at Bitty. “Definitely” he said sounding overly cheerful. “I mean I’ve heard about this party and who wouldn’t like to go with Eric” he smiled at her.

Lardo looked back and forth between the two of them several times looking for something, but apparently not finding it so she just shrugged.

“So…what should I wear to the party?” Jude asked in the silence. “I mean I’m guessing it’s something more than the kegster was right?”

Lardo smirked at Jude. “Well, that’s a good point. You need to dress to impress for this party” she told him and laughed at his nervous reaction.

“Lardo” Eric said carefully “be nice.”

“How about I help you find something…appropriate Jude? Something that will make you the hit of the party?” she offered with a smile.

“That would be great” Jude said sliding his eyes over to Eric. “I mean I wouldn’t want to embarrass Eric you know…for our first date” he said sweetly.

“First date?” Ransom said with a laugh walking in to the kitchen. “What do you call all those coffee dates the two of you have been having thinking that we don’t know about?”

“RANSOM!!” Eric squeaked. “OUT! Right now!” he grabbed his rolling pin and Ransom tore out of the kitchen faster than he moved on the ice while Lardo chuckled and Jude looked shocked.

“I swear those boys…” Eric looked over and saw Lardo watching him intently with a questioning eyebrow raised. “Besides going for coffee isn’t a date…I go out for coffee with Jack quite often and no one thinks that those are dates” he finishes and turns back to the counter so he won’t have to look at Lardo.

There are several uncomfortable moments of silence before Jude speaks again. “So Lardo…do you think you could come over to my room tomorrow to see if I have anything that will work?” he asked.

“Sure thing Jude” Lardo said as she headed out of the kitchen. “I’ll even ask Shitty to help you out Bitty” she said right before the door closed.

“Lord!” Eric panted as nearly collapsed against the counter. “This is going to be a lot more difficult than I thought.”

“Yeah” Jude agreed. He looked around for a moment before he muttered “Wonder where Connor went?”

“Oh honey” Eric sighed softly.

* * *

 

 

“Hey Bittle,” Jack greeted, poking his head into Bitty’s room the next day while he was looking at outfits for Screw.

 

“Oh, hi Jack!” Bitty said enthusiastically, waving Jack into the room, happy to see him, since he’d been absent from the Haus most of the last day and a half.  Jack nodded and came in, sitting down on Bitty’s desk chair.  His expression was closed off and unreadable, a kind of look that Bitty had dubbed Jack’s “media” face, and it was basically the epitome of the neutral expression.  He saw it often but—it hadn’t been directed at him since his freshman year.  “I’m just tryin’ to do some outfit pre-planning.  Lardo said she was going to ask Shitty to help me, but given how that boy feels about clothes in general, I ain’t trustin’ him to help much.”

 

Jack grunted in acknowledgement.  _Grunted_.  He didn’t chirp him which…that was a sure sign something strange was going on Jack's head.

 

“So Jack, who’s your Screw date?” Bitty asked probingly, distractedly smoothing out the shirts sitting on his bed, figuring Winter Screw was a safe conversation starter, something that he could maybe use to get Jack to talk about what it was that was bothering him .

 

“Camilla.”

 

“Oh!  She’s uh, the…tennis player, right?  The one you went with last year?” Bitty pressed when Jack didn’t offer up any other information.  This was going to be hard if Jack was only going to grunt and give him one word answers.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“She was definitely pretty and she seemed nice,” Bitty babbled nervously, rummaging through his closet for his bowties and purposely avoiding Jack’s eyes, even though he knew they were watching him closely.  “But then again, she complimented my cookies quite a few times when she was over here while I was also drunk, so my recollection of her might be just a bit skewed.”

 

“Yeah, she’s nice,” Jack replied tonelessly.

 

“Well I’m sure y’all’ll have fun,” Bitty remarked.  There was only so long that Bitty could take playing this game with Jack, and it was already clear he just wasn’t going to open up about whatever it was.  Bitty wasn’t sure why he thought he would.  He would definitely go to Shitty for that, not him.  Jack didn’t reply, just sat quietly observing him for a while.

 

Eventually, Jack mumbled something that Bitty didn’t catch.

 

“What?” Bitty said blankly.

 

“Uh, nothing,” Jack stammered, like he was surprised Bitty had even heard him.  “I’m sure you and Jude will have fun too,” he added as he stood up.  It seemed like there was almost a hint of bitterness to his tone, but Bitty was sure he just imagined it; he was just looking for anything about Jack to seem different.  Bitty opened his mouth to reply, but Jack had already walked out and disappeared into his own room.

 

Still, the fact remained that that was…unusual.  Even for Jack.

 

“Yo Bits,” Shitty said, startling him as he suddenly materialized outside Bitty’s room.  “Lardo said a brah needed help with his outfit for Screw.”

 

“No, I’m fine,” Bitty answered quickly.  “It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, but no offense, I ain’t sure that you’ll be the best judge of my options.”

 

“Brah, no offense taken.  Lards totally picked mine out for me.  Said I didn’t even get a say,” Shitty chuckled, placing a hand on his shoulder for a second before turning to leave.

 

“Hey Shits?” Bitty said after a second.  Jack would talk to Shitty!  So if he told Shitty to find Jack, he would help Jack figure it out.

 

“Yeah Bitty?”

 

“Would you—” Bitty replied hesitantly (he'd never asked Shitty to do something like this before).  “Would you check on Jack for me?  He just seems…not quite alright, you know?”

 

“It’s probably just some stress over Screw tomorrow, you know, the crowds and all...but sure, if you’re worried, I can talk to him,” Shitty answered, giving Bitty a questioning look.

 

“Thanks,” Bitty said, ignoring the look and turning back into his room, shutting his door.  If Shitty was going to talk to him, Jack would be fine, so Bitty pulled out his laptop and did his best to push Jack’s odd behavior (and Shitty's look) out of his mind.

 

* * *

 

**_Jude’s Dorm Room the Next Day_ **

Jude was looking at his closet in despair. He had good clothes and all, but he wanted to make a good impression at the party and while he knew Eric didn’t really care one way or another, he didn’t want to embarrass either of them. He briefly considered wearing a flannel shirt his sister had gotten him as a joke when we announced he was going to school at Samwell but he didn’t think anyone would appreciate it.

His train of though is broken by the sudden knocking on his door and he turns from the closet to open it seeing Lardo standing there. “Hey!” Jude says with a smile “thanks for coming to help out.”  
Lardo walks in the room never looking up from her phone. “No prob bro” she mutters and sits on the bed before looking up. “So let’s see what you got. But before we look at the clothes, tell me what you think of Bitty” she says with a smirk.

“Uh…what?” Jude stammers.

“Bitty…your date remember?” Lardo prods him. “What do you think about him?”

“He’s great. I mean he is really nice, easy to talk to, a great baker, sweet and funny” Jude says carefully.

“uh-huh” Lardo says with a nod. “I see. Well, let’s look at your clothes. What are you thinking about?”

Jude just looks at her, surprised by the sudden shift in the conversation, but on one level happy about the change. “Uh, well, I was thinking about…” Jude proceeded to go through his closet to show off his ideas. Lardo quickly discarded the suits and when he jokingly mentioned the plaid shirt he got a death stare. Finally they found an outfit she approved of that Jude could live with, so it only took an hour to figure it all out.

Sitting back on the bed beside her, Jude looked at his friend for a second before he steeled himself. “What did you mean ‘I see’?” he asked her.

“Huh?” Lardo said looking up at him.

“Earlier…when you asked me what I thought about Eric and I told you, you said ‘I see’. What did you mean by that?” Jude asked again.

Lardo looked at him for a moment before she looked away and looked back at her phone. “It’s not important” she finally said.

“Why won’t you tell me?” he pushed.

She sighed. “Because it’s not really my business what you do or don’t do. I shouldn’t get involved in it” she told him looking him in the eye.”

Jude looked at her carefully and saw the warning there. She was telling him to back down but he had to know. “Larrisa, I think of you as a true friend. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know what you really thought” Jude said sincerely.

She looked at him carefully before nodding. “Fine. You described a friend, not a date Jude. Nice? Friendly? You don’t like him, not like that and we both know it. Bitty is my friend and I don’t want to see him get hurt” she told him.

Jude sighed and realized that he wasn’t good at lying. “He won’t Lardo, I promise” Jude told her.

“And you can be certain of that?” she said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, because it's not a real date. We decided to go together to get Ransom and Holster off our backs is all. We decided to ham it up around them so that they will be so satisfied with their match-making that they will leave us alone. Eric said if we refused they would just hound us till we had our own dates or we gave in to their plan. Rather than risk getting set up worse, we figured we could just pretend to be in to it. Eric thought it would work” Jude confessed.

“And the coffee dates you two are always going on?” Lardo said smiling.

“Mostly we talk about our lives. We have a lot in common and it’s really nice to be able to talk to someone openly and honestly about some of what I have had to deal with and I think he likes that he can talk to me too” Jude told her. “But there is nothing else between us.”

“Okay” Lardo said looking amused. “Good to know. So…there is someone else you are interested in then?” she asked with a penetrating look.

“What?!” Jude was surprised. “No! I mean, there is no one! Why would you ask that?” Jude blushed as he avoided Larissa’s knowing gaze.

“Just thinking that the only reason you wouldn’t be interested in a date would be if you liked someone else but didn’t want to ask them for some reason” she said as she stood up and headed for the door.

“But obviously that isn’t the case. See you at the game tomorrow” she winked and walked out.

Jude sat there for a minute staring at the closed door. “Shit.”

 

* * *

**_THE_ _NIGHT OF WINTER SCREW_**

Bitty was getting dressed for the dance that was happening in just an hour, nursing a beer at the same time (the event itself was dry, since it was sponsored by the university, so they were doing all their drinking before showing up; Bitty wasn’t drinking much, he’d rather be mostly sober).  Well, he was mostly dressed already, at this point he was simply sitting on his bed, psyching himself up for the show he’d have to put on.  An act that he knew Jack would see.

 

Bitty groaned, wanting to smack himself for bringing Jack into it.  They were putting this act on for Ransom and Holster, not Jack.  And besides, Jack was going to be there with his date—with Camilla.  If he saw, it’s not like he would actually care.  Jack was _straight_ , and he’d be enthralled with Camilla, not busy watching him and Jude.  At this moment, he was very glad he was going with Jude—they would be each other’s support as they had to watch the objects of their affections enjoy the dance with people who weren’t them.

 

“Hey Bits,” Shitty greeted, showing up outside his room.  “Come join us, we’re doing shots in the living room!  Brah, if you’re gonna have a good time, you need to be schwasted before we leave.”

 

“Not tonight.  Maybe another time, Shitty,” Bitty answered distractedly.

 

“Woah, you alright?” Shitty asked, stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

 

“What?  Oh, yeah,” Bitty responded weakly.  Maybe he wasn’t fine, but he didn’t want to talk to Shitty about it.  Jude was the only one he trusted to tell about this.

 

“Well that’s one giant steaming pile of bullshit.  Spill it Bits,” Shitty challenged, flopping down on the bed next to Bitty.

 

He ignored Shitty for a few minutes, hoping that he would just go away, but Shitty didn’t work that way.   
The look on his face made it pretty clear that he wasn’t leaving until Bitty talked to him.  But that didn’t mean Bitty had to make it easy, so he kept quiet.  Shitty was going to have to force him to talk about this, he wasn’t going to do it willingly.

 

“Is this about Screw?” Shitty asked, breaking the silence.

 

Bitty shrugged.  “Last year’s Screw was pretty goshdarn awful.  Why should I think this one’ll be any better?”  That really had nothing to do with it, but it did make for pretty convenient misdirection.

 

“It’ll be fine.  You and I both know that Ransom and Holster were fucking idiots for thinking that your date last year would be any good,” Shitty replied, stroking his mustache thoughtfully.  “But Winter Screw is fucking swawesome when you have a halfway decent date, and you said yourself that Jude was a good guy to go with.”

 

“Yeah, I guess,” Bitty conceded.  So that headfake didn’t really work.

 

“You know Bits, you don’t seem very nervous for someone going on a first date with a guy they supposedly like,” Shitty remarked, narrowing his eyes on Bitty challengingly.

 

“Oh, um, I’m sure I’ll get nervous later?” Bitty answered uncertainly.  “ _Was Shitty already onto them?”_ he thought, panicked.  “ _Wait a minute, wasn’t that the point?”_ he thought a second later.  Ransom and Holster were supposed to be the only ones buying this.  “Okay fine,” Bitty sighed, deciding he might as well admit it to Shitty.  Or at least _part_ of what this all was about.  “This whole thing with Jude?  It ain’t real.  We’re makin’ it up for Ransom and Holster.”

 

“Yeah, I know.”

 

“What?  But we didn’t tell anyone!  How do you already know?” Bitty inquired, jaw dropping slightly in shock.  They hadn’t even started to play it up yet, everyone should still be clueless!

 

“Jude already spilled the whole thing to Lardo—”

 

“And of course she told you right away,” Bitty finished, rolling his eyes as he scratched the back of his neck anxiously.

 

“You bet you pert little ass she did.  And that’s not all.  You know, Lardo found it odd, and I think she’s absolutely fucking right about this, that you two would get along so well, and spend so much time together, and not be like, romantically interested in each other,” Shitty continued pointedly.  Bitty swallowed thickly, feeling a blush start to creep up his face.  Shitty already had a lot of pieces of the puzzle.  He was smart, he could connect the dots.  Which meant this conversation was about to get _very_ uncomfortable.

 

“Now my initial reaction to that was that two guys that are both gay don’t necessarily have to like each other just because they’re attracted to the same gender and can stand each other.  You could totally be platonic bros.  But Lardo didn’t agree.  She had another theory.  She thought it was because you two already have the hots for somebody else.  Jude apparently got quite squirrelly when Lardo directly asked him, so I was pretty sure she was onto something.  And then seeing your face last night when you said Jack was acting strange—”

 

“Please don’t tell him!” Bitty squeaked, reaching over to cover Shitty’s mouth in panic.  It was now painfully obvious that Shitty knew, and he didn’t want Shitty to say it out loud.  The walls of the Haus were thin.  Someone might hear.

 

“I wouldn’t sell you out like that,” Shitty said, lowering his hand and patting his back comfortingly.  “Don’t worry about it, I got your back.”

 

“Thanks Shits,” Bitty sighed, slumping back onto his mattress.

 

“So Lardo wants me to ask, who is Jude’s crush?”

 

“Jude may have sold me out with this whole fake date thing, but I sure as hell ain’t sellin’ him out!” Bitty exclaimed.

 

“Alright Bits, relax,” Shitty chuckled.  “We’re just curious.  And for the record, you did totally just sell him out earlier when you told me about this whole ruse when you thought I didn’t know.”

 

“Okay fine, I sold him out on that, but I ain’t sellin’ him out by tellin’ you his crush,” Bitty protested.

 

 “Fair enough,” Shitty shrugged, standing up to walk out.  “Just out of curiosity—you wouldn’t happen to be doing this to make them jealous, would you?”

 

“What, no!” Bitty replied, his eyebrows crinkling in confusion.  “We—they don’t even—they’re _straight_ , why would the two of together us make them jealous?  We’re just doing it to get Ransom and Holster off our backs!”

 

“Ah, you’re right, of course,” Shitty smirked, like he knew something Bitty didn’t.  “Well you two have fun tonight.”

 

He stopped just before opening the door.

 

“And by the way, I really mean it when I say I’ve got your back,” Shitty winked, and then vanished, going down the stairs.

* * *

 

Connor adjusted his shirt, pulling on it nervously. He really wasn’t sure he wanted to go to this party. The guys had set him up with a really nice girl, Daria, who was a sophomore fashion design major. She was really nice, attractive, and had a good sense of humor. It turned out that they were actually in the same biology class which was a surprise to Connor, but it helped to break the ice a bit. Though they hadn’t talked in class much, Connor had met her for coffee twice and actually did a study group with her and some of their classmates just last week.

The only problem was that she was not the brunette he was interested in dating. The fact was that he had been getting closer and closer with Jude and he really liked him…a lot! But with his dad’s career and all that press, he just didn’t think he could risk it. So he hadn’t said or did anything to let Jude know he was interested and now Jude was with Bitty which really sucked.

Standing back he looked at his outfit, all black except for the striking sapphire blue tie that he felt would really stand out on him. Looking in the mirror, Connor sighed and threw on his coat and headed out to pick up Daria at her dorm.

* * *

Jude stepped into the room and took a deep breath before turning to Eric and smiling. They walked in the dance and headed for the refreshment table. Jude had picked Eric up at the Haus and he had to admit that Eric looked great. He was wearing an adorable red bow tie, a green dress shirt, and a pair of seersucker pants. Jude felt that they actually looked pretty good together. He had on a black jacket and pants, white shirt, and a black tie. Jude thought that Lardo hated his suits but she had finally come back to that one. She did tell him to wear a red handkerchief in his pocket that matched Bitty’s tie.

The crowd was pretty amazing and the music was great. Jude smiled as he saw Nursey and Dex both dancing with their dates on the floor while Chowder and Farmer were sitting talking at a table. He didn’t see anyone else from the team yet and he was ready to head to join Chowder when the music changed and suddenly he was dragged onto the dance floor by a screaming Eric.

 

Jude laughed as he saw Eric start to rock out and he realized why when he figured out that the DJ was playing Crazy in Love by Beyonce and Eric was letting go like Jude had never seen him do before. He was rocking his hips and throwing his hands up and Jude, laughing, decided to let go with him and he just pretended like no one else was there.

 

_You got me looking so crazy in love…_

 

Jude laughed as he and Eric danced around each other and just had a blast. They were flirting while they danced and they both threw caution out the window just getting lost in the music till the song ended. Jude was ready to set down but then Ke$ha and Pitbull came on with Timber and it was Jude’s turn to pull on Eric as they continued to dance wildly through the song.

 

 _You better move, you better dance_  
_Let’s make a night you won’t remember_  
_I’ll be the one, you won’t forget_

 

They danced for a couple more songs before they needed a break and headed to the table where they saw Chowder but he and Farmer were gone but they saw Lardo and Shitty sitting there so they collapsed down next to them.

 

“Wow boys!” Lardo said with a smirk “that was some impressive dancing!” she teased them.

 

“Lord that was fun!” Eric said smiling hugely. “I haven’t done that in…well ever!” he gushed.

 

“It was great. I did dance like that back at my prom. I went with my friend Taylor and we had a blast, but this was way more fun” Jude agreed taking a sip of the punch they had grabbed on the way over.

 

“You made quite the impression” Shitty teased them as they sat down.

 

Eric frowned for a moment. “Oh? On who?” he asked.

 

“Well, Holster and Ransom were both congratulating themselves on setting you two up” he told them. Causing both Jude and Eric to smile. “But some of the other guys were definitely surprised by your dance skills” he said and pointed.

 

Eric looked over and saw Jack and Camilla standing at the edge of the dance floor. She was clearly talking with some of the other girls around them, but Jack looked rather unhappy. He was flushed and Eric could tell he was uncomfortable standing there. The crowd must be getting to him Eric thought when he looked over at their table. Eric waved at Jack who quickly looked away surprising Eric with his reaction.

 

Eric looked over at Shitty who he saw was watching him carefully with an eyebrow raised in question. He just sighed and shook his head and stood up offering to get Jude some more punch as he walked away from the table trying to understand what was going on.

* * *

 

“Having fun?” Lardo asked Jude while Eric was walking away.

 

“Yes!” Jude said laughing. “Eric is an awesome dancer” he said still breathless. He looked after him and noticed the sudden change in posture and how Eric now looked unhappy. Frowning he looked over at Shitty who had been talking to Eric, though Jude didn’t hear their conversation. “Is he okay?” he asked him.

 

“Sure” Shitty replied a bit too quickly. “I just told him that the guys were blown away by the two of you dancing” he smiled.

 

Jude suddenly looked worried. “Which guys?” he asked nervously.

 

Lardo and Shitty looked at each other for a minute before replying. “Well…Ransom and Holster were proud of their efforts, Chowder and Farmer were cheering you two on before they headed out on the floor. Dex and Nursey watched and seemed to be having fun and Wicks and Ollie both are planning some serious chirping of Bitty at their next opportunity” Shitty told him.

 

Jude looked around the room but didn’t see either Jack or Connor. “Looking for someone in particular?” Lardo asked with a smirk.

 

Jude shook his head. “No” he replied a bit too quickly for it to be believable. “No. I was just wondering” he tried to tell them while they both looked at him like that. Suddenly nervous he jumped up and stammered. “I’m going to see if Eric needs any help” he stutters and head out after Eric.

 

He doesn’t see Eric but he does spot Jack and he raises his hand to wave when he sees his face and Jude swallows nervously. Jack is staring at him and he isn’t smiling…he looks like he is pissed off at Jude but then he turns away to look at the blonde next to him and Jude shakes his head wondering if he imagined the whole thing. He decides to head to the restroom when he passes Chowder and Farmer.

 

“Hey, have you seen Eric?” Jude asks him with a smile.

 

Chowder just shakes his head and smiles at Farmer, obviously in love and totally distracted. Jude smirks at his fellow Californian. He sees a shock of blonde hair going out one the side doors and heads that way.

* * *

 

Connor swallows hard at the scene on the dance floor and tugs on his collar that feels much too tight around his throat all of a sudden. Jude and Eric are dancing with abandon to some pop song and they seem to be totally into each other. They are shaking their hips and smiling at each other and Connor can feel the bile fill up the back of his throat as he watches them together. Daria is talking with one of her friends and he suddenly wants to leave and get out of here but he knows he can’t do that.

 

He watches them the whole time they are on the dance floor and Connor feels a pressure on his chest that makes it hard for him to breathe even when Daria pulls him on the dance floor and he loses sight of him. Connor dances with Daria for a while before they sit back down with several of her friends and their dates. Connor tries to participate…to talk, but he knows he isn’t being a good date but Daria doesn’t seem to even notice.

 

He looks over and sees Bitty standing up from the table where he was sitting and talking to Jude. He sees Jude is still sitting there and talking to Shitty and Lardo while Bitty heads over toward the refreshments. ‘Ah, just getting punch’ he thinks but then Bitty stops suddenly and just stands there for a moment before he turns around and heads for the side doors. Connor can’t tell what happened but then he sees Jude get up and walk after him and go out the same doors Bitty just left through. He feels sick…they must be sneaking out so they can…Connor swallows and stands up only to find Daria dragging him back to the dance floor. ‘Will this night ever end?’ he thinks.

* * *

 

Jack is standing with Camilla trying to pay attention as she is talking to her friends about something that he hasn’t been able to follow for the last few minutes when he hears the music change to a song he recognizes. Though he likes to chirp Bitty and exaggerate his lack of pop culture knowledge he does recognize Beyonce, mostly due to the number of times he has heard it coming from across the hall. Looking around he suddenly spots Eric running onto the dance floor towing Jude behind him when he starts dancing.

 

Jack’s lip twitch into a small smile as he watches Bitty dancing so joyfully and he thinks of the chirps that he will be dealing with tomorrow when he suddenly realizes that HE is there too and then they are suddenly dancing together. He watches the two of them, so carefree and not worrying about the people watching them as they go nuts on the floor.

 

“Whoo hoo!” Jack hears beside him and sees one of Camilla’s teammates watching Eric & Jude dancing and she is cheering them on. Jack feels his teeth grinding as he clenches his jaw watching them together.

 

Over the next few songs he tries not to watch Eric but his eyes are drawn back over and over again to the blonde dancing with abandon. When they finally sit down Jack is relieved that they are done for now but then he remembers how the two of them looked; so good together, so comfortable, so free. Jack stares at the four of them sitting together and his vision blurs at the memory of them dancing. He knows he has no business being mad but he is, he hates this and he feels the pressure on his chest and the tension in his jaw when he looks at the table at the table, laughing and talking when he sees Eric looking at him. Turning away Jack hopes that he didn’t see him looking at their table with that expression on his face.

 

“Jack?” Camilla’s hand on his arm shakes his awareness as he looks up at her and notices that she is looking at him expectantly as is several of the others around them. “Well?” she prompts.

 

He doesn’t know what she asked him but seeing them all smiling at him he just puts on his ‘on stage' face and smiles “Okay” he replies.

 

Camilla laughs at him and grabs his face and plants a kiss on him to his shock. Jack freezes as her lips touch his and he hears several people cheering. Pulling back he looks at her in surprise but she is laughing and turns to one of the girls, Abigail he thinks, that they are standing next to. Jack turns to catch his breath and he looks right into the eyes of Eric R. Bittle who is standing there looking at him, an expression of total shock on his face. Jack freezes as Eric suddenly looks away and moves away from Jack. But before he can react Camilla has grabbed his arm and asks him something. He turns to answer her question quickly but when he looks back, Eric is gone.

* * *

 

Okay, so maybe Shitty was right; having a decent guy as his date made the evening a lot more fun.  At least, it was certainly more fun than his first Winter Screw.  More than anything, it was nice to have someone who would dance to Beyoncé with abandon with him.

 

But Jack—he couldn’t stop wondering about Jack, he thought as he wandered back over to the punch bowl.  Wondering if Jack was watching him while he was dancing.  Wondering what Jack was doing with Camilla.  Wondering why Jack looked away so quickly when he waved at him back at the table.

 

His meandering thoughts led to aimless walking and caused him to end up standing a few feet away from Jack.  He watched with curiosity as Camilla shook his arm, looking at Jack like she expected him to answer some kind of question.  Bitty hadn’t heard what she asked, but Jack obviously didn’t seem to know either, as he clearly looked like he hadn’t been listening ( _he probably wasn’t_ , Bitty thought, causing him to grin slightly).

 

What happened after seemed to take place in slow motion.  Jack said “Okay”, making Camilla laugh, and then she grabbed his face and kissed him.

 

It’s not like Bitty didn’t expect something like that to happen.  It was unusual for Screw dates to just simply dance at Screw, but knowing that it would likely happen, and having to see it happen right in front of him, were two totally different things.  He wasn’t prepared—he could never be prepared for the way it made it hard to breathe, for the way he felt his heart shatter into millions of tiny shards, or for the way the tears stung his eyes.

 

When Jack turned towards him afterwards, Bitty spun around and quickly pushed his way through the crowd to the door.  He didn’t want—he couldn’t let Jack see him.  The broken heartedness that was all over his face wasn’t something Jack could ever know was there.

 

Bitty burst through the door of the hall, running towards the Haus.  He just wanted to climb into bed and cry, and then maybe spend the next day making pies.  Hopefully that would fill the emptiness that was already beginning to occupy his chest.

 

“Eric!” Jude shouted, making Bitty stop in tracks.  Bitty would’ve felt really guilty about the fact that he was about to abandon Jude at Screw, but he was just too devastated to care and, given the circumstances, Jude probably would’ve understood anyway.  Jude jogged up to him, concern clearly all over his face.  “Eric…what happened?”

 

An image of Jack kissing Camilla flashes across his brain, and Bitty tried to keep from gasping at the pain that shot through his chest.  He was just barely holding it together, still too close to the dance to let himself fall apart.  But then Jude touched his shoulder, offering friendly comfort, and it was just too much.

 

Bitty threw himself at Jude, letting himself cry in the arms of someone who he knew would understand how he was feeling.

 

“J-Jack a-and Ca-Camilla—k-k-kissed,” Bitty stuttered through tears, the words making him sob harder.

 

“I’m so sorry Bitty,” Jude murmured, running a hand up and down his back.  They stood for a while, while Bitty tried to pull himself together enough to make the walk back to the Haus, but this was all so difficult.  He wished that this didn’t feel like a knife to his heart, but it did, and that feeling just got worse every time he saw the scene replay in his head.

 

“I w-wish—I wish I’d never fallen i-in love with h-him,” Bitty whispered, his voice cracking as they made their way back to the Haus.  He wondered when it would stop hurting so much.

 

“I know,” Jude sighed, tightening the arm around his shoulder.  Having Jude helping him back, feeling his arm holding him into his side, holding Bitty up made him glad that they had come together.  He wasn’t sure that he could’ve handled this on his own.

 

* * *

 

Jude pushes through the door and sees Eric moving away from the dance at a fair clip. “Eric!” Jude calls out and the other boy stops to look at him. Jude jogs up to him and then comes to a halt upon seeing the tear streaked face of the boy in front of him. “Eric…what happened?” he says gently.

 

Eric manages to hold on to himself but when Jude touches his shoulder so carefully he loses it. Throwing himself into the arms of the tall, lanky boy he lets go and cries in Jude’s arms. Through his tears he tells him of seeing Jack and Camilla kiss and how it hurts. Jude mutters soft, meaningless noises as he holds Eric, just being there for his friend. After a few minutes, he starts them walking back to the Haus and he gets Eric back to his room and tucked in to bed. Jude stays for a while until Eric finally falls asleep before he heads back to his dorm. The walk back to his room is cold and Jude is worn out by the whole thing. He really thinks that they may have messed up by agreeing to this “date”. This was supposed to be fun and now Eric was miserable.

 

The only good thing about tonight was the fact that he didn’t really have time to think about Connor. He didn’t see him more than a glance with that girl from his class that Ransom and Holster picked for him. He wondered if he was having a good time.

* * *

 

Connor kept trying to figure a way out of this horrible evening when this guy came up and asked Daria to dance. She looked really conflicted by his asking and turned to Connor and he smiled and said to have fun. Watching her on the floor she seemed to really be enjoying herself. By the end of the dance Connor could tell she was having more fun with that guy than she was having with him. She came back and looked at Connor somewhat guiltily.

 

“Have fun?” Connor asked with a smile. “You know him?”

 

“Yes” she replied breathlessly. “I met him last year at a freshman mixer and we have seen each other a couple times since” she said with a blush.

 

“He seems to really like you” Connor said with a slight nudge as he inclined his head towards the guy who was watching Daria from the other side of the room.

 

“Sorry” Daria said quietly. “We are on a date, so we should focus on getting to know each other.”

 

Connor smiled and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “We both know this date is a disaster” he whispered with a smile. “Do you want to go dance with him?”

 

Connor watched her face react to his words. She looked for a second like she was going to argue but then her resistance crumbled. “You seem like a really nice guy” she starts.

 

“But no spark” Connor finishes. “It’s okay. Go. Have fun!” he gives her a chaste hug and a smile.

 

She gives him a quick kiss. “Thanks” she says and walks off to the guy and they start talking.

 

Connor slips away from the crowd and aims for the same doors he saw Jude heading for and slips outside without getting spotted. He desperately wants to avoid Holster and Ransom, so he figures this is the best way out. He starts walking towards the dorms when he sees them. Eric is hugging Jude, clinging to him desperately, while Jude has wrapped the smaller boy in his own arms. They don’t see Connor as he is a ways away from them and diverts his path in order to stay in the shadows. By the time Connor gets around them they have broken apart and are heading back towards the Haus, Jude’s arm wrapped around Bitty.

 

Connor turns towards his dorm, tears burning his eyes as he swallows down the regret he feels at the pit of his stomach.


	6. Chapter 6

Ever since the Winter Screw, it has been really weird. Connor and him still hung out, but it was different and Jude wasn’t sure why. It seemed that Connor was more distant and uncomfortable being around Jude but whenever Jude even skirted the issue, Connor would change the subject.

Jude was sitting in his room studying when his mom’s called. “Hi Baby!” Lena said happily. “How are you doing?” she asked.

“Studying for finals” he told her with a sigh. “How is everybody doing?” Jude asked, glad for the break.

“Well we finally got things figured out with Jesus and Callie. They will be arriving in Boston on the 22nd and mom and I will be there on the 21st so everyone will be together for the holiday this year. We will be having an East Coast Christmas!” Lena says excitedly. “Have you figured out your housing yet? Can you stay in the dorms?” his mama asks.

“I’m not sure yet. I will ask and let you know. I know Mari said I could crash on her couch if I wanted to, but I know Brandon is staying with her too and so is Callie, but I can bring a sleeping bag if I need to” Jude told her.

They talked for a bit before Lena had to go. Jude went back to studying for a bit before he decided he needed a break and headed over to the art studio to do some work on his present for his moms: a painting of the entire family that Jude had been working on all semester. Walking into the studio he was happily surprised to see Lardo was there also working. He nodded but didn’t interrupt and they both worked for about two hours before she walked over, grunted approvingly at his work and smiled. “Coffee break?” she asked though Jude was used to her enough to know it wasn’t really a question.

They walked over to Annie’s the popular coffee house when Lardo looked at him curiously. “So, any plans for the break?” she asked.

“Well we are doing the holidays in Boston” Jude told her. “My sister is at MIT, brother at Julliard and moms and other brother and sister are coming over so I am staying here for the break, but I need to find out if I can stay in the dorms” Jude explained.

“Nope” Lardo said shaking her head. “The dorms are closed for the break. You can’t stay but I may have an idea. I will check with the boys and see if we can get you a bed in the Haus” Lardo said with a smile. “If you are going to be here anyway, then we have someone there to watch over it.” Lardo nodded happily as Jude agreed with her idea and hoped it would work out.

* * *

**AT THE HAUS**

Lardo walked into the kitchen and saw Jack and Shitty sitting at the table munching on cookies while Bitty was making another pie humming happily. “Bros” Lardo said reaching for a slice of the pie…was that caramel banana?

“Bro” Shitty said happily. “What’s up?”

“Got someone that needs a place to stay for the break and was thinking about having them stay at the Haus…you know to keep an eye on the place” Lardo said focusing on her slice of pie. Yep caramel banana!

“Might be nice to have someone to watch the place” Jack said noncommittedly. “Would avoid another broken water pipe incident like my frog year.”

“Sure” Shitty agreed. “Where will he…or she…stay?”

“We can work that out” Bitty offered cheerfully.

“Great…I’ll let Jude know” Lardo said hiding her smile behind her coffee cup while watching the other boys. Jack suddenly frowned and Bitty froze for a moment as he glanced at Jack. She caught Shitty’s eyes and knew that he saw the same reaction she did. Lardo took another bite of her pie and made a note to talk to Shitty later to find out what happened once she leaves.

* * *

**WALKING TO THE HAUS – THE NEXT DAY**

Connor was frustrated, but not really surprised. He had finally got off the phone with his dad, a whole five minute conversation, which he supposed he should be grateful for, which amounted to his dad telling him that he was doing a bunch of work during the break and wouldn’t be home the entire time Connor was home from school. He was not looking forward to going back to that empty, sterile house that was his childhood home. He wondered if he could stay in the dorms here at Samwell.

Walking into the Haus he plopped down on the couch next to Holster who was playing Call of Duty and seemed really focused. Looking around Connor didn’t see anyone else. “Where’s Rans?” Connor asked surprised not to see him with the tall blonde.

“Upstairs studying” Holster grunted. “He’s is psycho study mode…we don’t disturb him when he is like this.”

“Like what?” Connor asked trying to picture the cool Ransom worked up.

“Well…last I saw him he was under his desk screaming” Holster shared. “But he might be on the roof by now” he said unconcerned.

“Should we do something” Connor asked concerned.

“Definitely not!” Holster said pausing his game. He then went into this long discussion of how Ransom was like a coral reef or something, Connor got quickly confused, but it basically amounted to butt out and leave him alone while he freaked out. Seems Ransom did this every time finals rolled around and it was normal for him. So Connor just picked up a controller and they played for a while.

“What are your plans for break?” Holster asked after a bit.

“Not sure” Connor replied absently. “My dad is working all break so I’m not really excited about going back to Arizona. Thought about staying here at Samwell if I can stay in my dorm.”

“Dorms close” Holster muttered. Connor sighed in disappointment then looked up when Holster continued “but you could stay here in the Haus.”

“Really” Connor asked surprised.

“Sure” Holster said looking at the frog. “You could stay in mine and Rans’s room. That way we would have someone in the Haus keeping an eye on things. It would be great.”

“Thanks!” Connor said happily. This was better than sitting home alone. Even if everyone was gone here too, he would be able to go to Faber as well as hang out around town…maybe run into Boston to keep busy.

* * *

 

**LATER THAT DAY**

Holster walks into the kitchen after Connor headed out, after they all devoured Bitty’s killer casserole when he saw Jack and Shitty talking. “It just seems strange is all” Jack says looking uncomfortable.

“Why?” Shitty says with a smirk. “I think it would be great to have someone staying in the Haus over the break. Keep an eye on things.”

Jack frowns but doesn’t immediately respond. “How did you hear?” Holster asks Shitty as he sat down.

“Hear what?” Shitty asks looking at him.

“That Connor is going to stay in the Haus for the break” Holster replies reaching for a cookie. He looks up to see the surprised looks on his teammates’ faces. “I told him he could stay in our room when he told me his dad was going to be gone for the holiday and he was trying to avoid going to an empty house. That _is_ what you were talking about, right?” he asked them.

“Actually” Shitty said with a deep breath “Lardo also offered to let Jude stay in the Haus for the break. His family is coming to spend the holidays in Boston so he isn’t leaving either.”

“Oh…well that’s cool. They are friends so it’s cool and with two staying, that’s better…right?” Holster says thinking it through.

“I guess” Jack mutters slowly and Shitty nods. They are still there when Bitty and Lardo walk in about twenty minutes later from another coffee run.

“So it looks like Jude will have some company” Shitty tells Lardo cheerfully.

Lardo and Bitty both look over at him in confusion. “Holster offered his room to Connor to stay in for the break since he is staying as well. So both of them can watch the Haus.”

Lardo nodded and turned to look at Bitty who had gone pale with shock and raised an eyebrow at him but he turned away before seeing her expression. He did not look like this was a good thing.

* * *

 

**THE NEXT DAY AT THE HAUS**

Bitty was baking in the kitchen when Jack walked into the kitchen with a concerned look. “Everything okay?” Bitty asked concerned.

“Yeah” Jack mumbled. “My parents got pulled into a charity event in Vancouver on the 24th and I got asked to meet with representatives from teams on the 23rd and 26th.”

“Okay” Bitty drawled out slowly. “That sounds like a good thing” he was confused.

“They are coming here to Samwell for the meeting. Looks like I will be staying at Samwell for the break” Jack explained. “My parents are going to try and come visit for a bit, but with their schedules it may just be for a day” he looked tired.

“Wait” Bitty said suddenly concerned. “You are going to be here…alone…on Christmas?”

“Well…I guess I will be here with Connor…and Jude” Jack answered slowly.

Eric frowned at Jack sitting there and putting down his bowls he walked out of the kitchen and pulled out his phone. He walked into his room and sat down on his bed and thought. He was worried about how things would work out. He hadn’t had the chance to talk to Jude about Connor being in the Haus as well during the break, though he was planning to let Jude stay in his room so that maybe the boys could work out their feelings. But with Jack staying as well…it could be a nightmare.

Instead Eric called his mama and after talking briefly he told her about Jude, Connor, and Jack all being alone in the Haus for the holiday and how worried he was for them. After a bit he got her to agree to let him stay to take care of them. Though he would miss seeing the family for Christmas, the idea of his teammates, and Jude, sitting in the Haus eating take out or ( _SHUDDER_ ) frozen turkey dinners on Christmas broke his heart.

Walking back downstairs he looked at Jack who was still sitting at the table. “Everything okay?” Jack asked as he walked back in.

“Yes” Bitty said with a smile. “Just letting mama know I was staying here for the break” he said grabbing the bowl of filling for the next pie.

“Wait…what?” Jack said standing up and walking over to him.

“Jack Zimmermann…do you really think I am going to leave you three boys here on your own to have take-out for Christmas dinner? I talked to mama and Coach and I will stay here to take care of things” Eric said with a smile and seeing Jack’s face he quickly continued “and I don’t want to hear you say anything about it either!”

Jack just smiled a bit then he frowned as his brow furrowed. “So…it will be you, me, Jude, and Connor for the break?” he asked sounding uncertain.

Eric’s eyes widened as he realized what that meant and he quickly turned around. ‘Oh dear lord’ he suddenly thought. ‘the four of us alone?!’

* * *

 

**WINTER BREAK STARTS**

Jude finished packing his bags that he was taking with him to the Haus for the break since he would not be able to access his dorm over the break. The last few days had been a roller coaster of craziness. First he found out he couldn’t stay in his dorm but Lardo arranged for him to stay and watch over the Haus. Great! Then the next day he found out that Connor was also going to be staying there. Just the two of them…alone…in the Haus. Jude thought about making up an excuse to beg out but one, he really didn’t want to sleep on Mari’s floor and two, he couldn’t come up with a good excuse.

Then he found out that Jack was also staying for the break. Jack, the guy who had been really stand offish since the Screw and really made Jude nervous. Then Eric announced he was staying as well which was a huge relief till Jude suddenly realized that both he and Eric would be alone in the Haus with their straight crushes. It took a long time at the coffee shop for Eric to talk him down from the panic he felt at that thought. But Eric was right that they could support each other so it shouldn’t be too bad.

Then Eric announced he was doing Christmas dinner for them and when he found out Jude’s family would all be nearby, he invited them so suddenly the Haus was going to be Jude, his entire family, his straight crush, his gay best friend, and his straight crush. With his family there…this was going to be insane!

Jude walked into the Haus still a bit nervous when he headed toward the kitchen smelling something wonderful. Seeing Eric baking reassured him it wouldn’t be too bad. “Hi Eric” Jude said putting his bag down and sitting down at the table.

Eric turned to look at him with the strangest look on his face. “Hi Jude” he said with a nervous tremor in his voice.

“What’s wrong” Jude asked feeling scared.

“Nothing” Eric said too quickly but then he sighed and sat down. “It’s just that…well…Shitty is staying an extra few days longer than we thought” he finally said.

“Okay?” Jude was confused. He liked Shitty actually. He was a deep talker and he knew from his conversations with Lardo how cool he was so he didn’t think it would be bad to hang out for a few days.

“It’s just…well with Jack and I staying for the break and Shitty staying…it means you will be in Ransom’s spot” Eric finally said.

“Is that a bad thing?” Jude still didn’t get it.

“No…not really” Eric stammered. “It’s just that he shares the attic with Holster.” Eric looked at Jude carefully and saw that he wasn’t connecting the dots. “And Connor is staying in Holster’s spot” he finished.

Eric saw the moment that Jude figured it out. He was spending the winter break not only living in the same Haus as Connor but also the same bedroom. The blood drained from his face. “Eric?” he whimpered.

“I’m so sorry honey” Eric said softly. “I was so planning on putting you in Shitty’s room, but then you would share a spot with Jack and he’s particular about that stuff. So I thought we could put Connor there, but with Shitty staying, the only open beds are in the attic. And since there is space there…I couldn’t think of a reason to disagree with the plan without telling why” Eric confessed.

Jude just nodded and swallowed. He could do this he thought to himself and took a deep breath. Besides, with game nights, visits with his family, and everything, they probably wouldn’t see each other too much. God! Jude suddenly froze. What does Connor wear to bed?!?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for another chapter, ft. more misunderstandings, more awkwardness, more assumptions and even. More. Angst. :)
> 
> Also, I use a few Québécois swears in this chapter, and I assume I used them correctly, but if I didn't please let me know.
> 
> \- Benjji

Eric hates to break the news to Jude that he’s sharing the attic with Con.  There’s been no shortage of information forthcoming from Jude about how strange and distant Con’s been acting towards him since Winter Screw.  Eric really doesn’t want to subject Jude to an entire winter break of more of the same, but his hands are frustratingly tied.  There’s no coherent argument he can make to the other boys without saying too much.

 

He apologizes profusely, and talks Jude down, since he’s about on the edge of panicking.  Once he calms down, Eric pushes him up towards the attic to stow his bags, and so Eric can have a minute alone.  Eric leans heavily against the counter, hanging his head and taking deep breaths.

 

This winter break seems to be spinning out of whack faster than he can figure out how to get it back under his control.  He could’ve handled Jude and Con and their awkwardness, no problem.  Then Jack said he was staying at the Haus over break, and that kinda just…

 

Well, the problem is, Eric’s still avoiding dealing with the fallout from what he saw on Winter Screw night, and so he’s been incredibly stand-offish with Jack.  Mostly because it’s hard to be in the same room as Jack without wanting to cry; he’s decided to just evade that situation completely.  Jack has definitely noticed, and Eric’s only gotten away with doing it because the Haus is always crowded and that doesn’t give Jack the opportunity to call him out without everyone knowing.  So with only the four of them there for nearly three weeks, he was going to _have_ to deal with it.  Add that on top of keeping Jude level-headed around Con, and you were asking a lot of Eric.

 

_And now_ Shitty was going to be here too, and that’s just going to cause issues because a) Shitty knows enough to think that he totally understands what’s going on, even though he really doesn’t, and b) Shitty doesn’t normally keep his nose out of other people’s business.  Eric would be shocked if Shitty didn’t try and meddle, and with Jude especially on edge now that he has to share the attic with Con, and Eric trying to deal with Jack _and_ Jude, he just can’t handle that on top of it all right now.

 

“Bittle?” Jack says, awkwardly standing right outside the kitchen.

 

“When it rains…” Eric mutters to himself as he waves Jack in.  He’s a little surprised that Jack has decided to make the first move regarding the situation, but he’s probably just gotten tired of Eric’s tactic of not talking about or dealing with it.

 

“Is—is everything okay?” Jack asks hesitantly as he moves to stand awkwardly by the kitchen table.

 

“Of course honey, everythin’s fine,” Eric replies, his smile far too wide to look real or be reassuring.  Of course he’s really not fine; the universe is conspiring against him right now, and all he really wants to do is scream, rather than smile, but he wouldn’t ever tell Jack that.

 

“You don’t seem fine, eh?” Jack prods, and silently, Eric curses Jack for knowing him well enough to know that he’s not fine.  Though he isn’t sure if Jack’s talking about how he’s been since Winter Screw, or how he seems right now.  Not that it matters; either way, Eric can’t— _won’t_ talk about it.

 

“It’s nothin’, just some leftover exam stress,” Eric lies.

 

“Oh,” Jack says, and that means he’s accepted Eric’s lie, or he’s not sure how to call him out on it.  Either way, there’s a long, uncomfortable silence that follows, so Eric starts babbling about the first thing that comes to mind, out of the need for self-preservation, because he’s feeling the urge to cry again.

 

“So Jude’s family is comin’ to the Haus for Christmas!” Eric blurts out, and he cringes at how enthusiastic he sounds, but honestly he _is_ excited about having company over the break besides Jack, Jude and Con, if only to give Eric a chance to spend at least a day and a half buried in his baking, because at least he’ll be distracted from the veritable shit show that has been and will be surrounding him.

 

Jack’s brow is furrowing, but otherwise his expression is completely neutral; it’s frustrating just how unreadable Jack is—and has been since _before_ Winter Screw.  Eric had just started to get Jack to open up and now he’s completely clammed up again.

 

“It’ll be a little crowded, because, Lord, that boy has a big family.  I mean, he has four siblings, and I think he said his grandparents are coming too?  It’ll be a packed Haus, that’s for sure,” he continues on, just because he doesn’t know what else to do when confronted by Jack’s stony face.

* * *

 

Jack feels crestfallen—crushed even, and there’s a sinking feeling overtaking his stomach.  Jude’s family is coming to the Haus?  That’s— _merde_ , that’s a _huge_ thing.  Since Winter Screw, Bittle’s spent more time with Jude and less time with him and—well, he should’ve been able to pick up on what that meant.  He’s not totally shit at interpersonal relationships, but he’s definitely a huge dipshit for missing Jude and Bittle’s— _thing_.  It was perfectly obvious, now that Jack thinks about it, that they really hit it off, and now Jude’s family was coming to the Haus.  It was like playing connect-the-dots in the dark with neon signs.

 

“Baking for a lot of people, puts you right in your element, eh?” Jack chirps, quickly pulling his features into his well-practiced neutral expression.  There’s absolutely no teasing lilt to his voice, no little smirk, and he knows his chirp is just flat—half-hearted, really.

 

Bittle doesn’t notice—his chirp or his tone—and keeps talking animatedly about Jude and his family, and his intensity about it all is like a sucker punch to Jack’s gut.  Bittle only talks expressively like that about things he’s passionate about, and clearly, Jude is one of those things now.  That makes Jack want to hurl, or crawl into a hole and die, or have the Earth open up underneath him and swallow him up—or maybe, somehow, have a combination of all three happen.

 

Because he came down here because Shitty suggested that he stop indulging the way Bittle’s been avoiding him, and explain what Bittle saw at Winter Screw.  But that’s obviously a terrible idea, because there’s no reason for Bittle to actually care about what he saw; what does it matter to him that Jack didn’t want to kiss Camilla if he already has a boyfriend?  Of course, _it doesn’t_ , that’s the answer, so at this point Jack just wants to escape the kitchen as quickly as possible.

 

It registers with Jack that Bittle has stopped talking and is looking at him expectantly.  “Oh, um, yeah,” Jack mumbles, not sure if reply that even makes sense.  He apparently said the right thing, because Bittle is nodding, and Jack takes advantage of the lull in Bittle’s prattling to bolt, up the stairs and back into Shitty’s room from whence he came.

 

He sits down cross-legged on Shitty’s bed, burying his head in his hands and— _tabarnak_ , this is exactly why he’s always hated acknowledging his feelings.  He knows Shitty is watching him intently, waiting for him to speak, but he’s not going to; there’s nothing to say, except that what he just did was a terrible idea and that he should’ve never listened to Shitty in the first place.

 

“You didn’t actually tell him, did you?” Shitty asks once he catches on that Jack isn’t going to offer up anything on his own, looking at Jack over the top of his reading glasses.

 

“No,” Jack mutters, rolling over so that he’s lying on his side, pulling his knees up into his chest.  “And I’m not going to.”

 

“Jack Laurent Zimmermann,” Shitty starts threateningly, but Jack sighs and shakes his head.

 

“Jude’s family is coming _here_ for Christmas.”

 

“And?  So?”

 

“They—Jude and Bittle—they went to Winter Screw and now—they’re obviously a…” Jack trails off, because he doesn’t actually want to say it, acknowledge it exists.

 

_“Thing?”_ Shitty finishes for him.

 

“Yeah,” Jack answers lamely.

 

“Nah brah, I don’t think so,” Shitty says dismissively, kicking the mattress, in lieu of his legs not being long enough to kick Jack directly.

 

“I’m not stupid Shits,” Jack laughs humorlessly.  He’s really not socially incompetent when it comes to other people, just with the way he interacts with them.  And even if he was, it’s exceedingly easy to read between the lines here.

 

“Jack, Jack, Jack, my sweet Canadian son,” Shitty tutts.  “You fucking think this is a ‘meet the parents’ deal?”

 

“Why else would they come here?” Jack huffs in frustration, giving up on holding his head up and letting it fall facedown into Shitty’s mattress.  He doesn’t understand how Shitty can’t see this situation for what it is; he’s not supposed to be the oblivious one here.

 

“I can’t say that I know for sure, but brah, he said his whole family was already going to be on the East Coast.  It makes sense that Bits invited them here, rather than making them spend Christmas in some shitty hotel room or one of those fucking shoebox apartments in Boston,” Shitty explains.

 

“Yeah, but Bittle _invited_ them, on his own, so it’s probably a—a two birds, one stone thing, you know?” Jack argues, his voice muffled by Shitty’s duvet.  Shitty is ignoring how all the pieces fit together too perfectly.

 

“You’re reading wayyyy too much into this, brah,” Shitty sighs and shakes his head.  “I’m sure if you just _asked_ Bits—”

 

_“No,”_ Jack says sharply, almost too harshly.  “I’m not going down there just to make a fool of myself again.”

 

“Alright Jay-Z, suit yourself,” Shitty shrugs, looking back down at his textbook.

 

Jack groans and rolls off the bed.  If Shitty isn’t going to listen, consider how he’s seeing things, he’s done talking to him.  “I’m going to Faber,” he declares.  Shitty grunts in acknowledgement, and Jack exits his room, stomping down the stairs and out the front door without pause or hesitation.

* * *

 

Eric sits at the kitchen table early in the morning a couple of days later.  When Jack fled from the kitchen, only to go storming out of the Haus a few moments later, Eric was concerned.  Jack was gone for the entire day, and has been scarce ever since.  Despite Shitty’s assurances that he’s just being a “whiny baby”, Eric still worries that he said something to upset Jack.  He’s replayed their short conversation in his head a thousand times, and he doesn’t have a clue what he might’ve said.  It’s driving him nuts.

 

He’s finished his breakfast and is on his second cup of coffee when he hears someone barreling down the steps.

 

“C’mon,” Jude says breathlessly when he appears in the kitchen entryway, waving Eric out, over to the front door.  “I need to get out of here.”

 

“Goodness!” Eric startles at the desperate edge to Jude’s voice.  “Has it really been that bad?” he adds, because he’s been so busy stressing out and, ergo, stress-baking because of Jack that he completely forgot about Jude and the potentially explosive situation up in the attic.

 

“ _Let’s go_ and I’ll tell you,” Jude replies tersely, wrapping his red and green striped scarf around his neck.

 

“Okay,” Eric agrees quickly, because _Lord_ , is this boy high-strung.  “Just let me tell Shitty we’ll be out and about.”

 

“Fine,” Jude nods stiffly as Eric hops up the stairs.  He pokes his head into Shitty’s room.

 

“Yo Bits!  Sup?” Shitty says cheerfully.

 

“Jude and I are headin’ out for a bit.  Just lettin’ you know,” Eric says, still standing out in the hallway.  Shitty noticeably perks up at the mention of Jude and opens his mouth to say something, but then Con brushes past, knocking into Eric.

 

“Oh, sorry Bitty,” Con mumbles as he continues to shuffle along, and goodness, is that boy’s brow _very_ deeply furrowed.

 

“What crawled up his ass and died?” Shitty inquires, and Eric shakes his head, stepping into Shitty’s room and out of the way.

 

“I ain’t got the slightest clue,” Eric frowns.

 

“There’s something strange going on in this Haus,” Shitty remarks, stroking his mustache and casting a knowing look at Eric.

 

“Mmm,” Eric hums, shifting uncomfortably.  “I’ll see what I can find out okay now I gotta go,” he spouts rapidly and turns around to find Jack standing in the doorway.  He’s muttering under his breath in French, which is never a good thing.

 

Jack wordlessly steps out of the way, and Eric hurries out to let Shitty deal with whatever crisis Jack is having.

 

Down in the entryway, Jude is glowering at Con, trying to bore a hole through the back of his head.  Con is at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal, skillfully ignoring Jude, and the tension in the air is so thick Eric’s sure he could cut it with a butter knife.  Eric tosses his coat on and herds Jude out the front door.

 

“Did you see that?!” Jude explodes as soon as the front door clicks shut.

 

“Well I saw somethin’,” Eric answers, rapidly dragging Jude down the sidewalk, away from the Haus and its paper-thin walls.  “But I ain’t sure what I’m s’posed to be seein’.”

 

“He acts like I don’t exist and I don’t have any idea why!” Jude scowls, gesturing wildly.  “I mean, when he came down the stairs, he didn’t even look at me, he just turned and walked straight into the kitchen!”

 

“Have you tried askin’ him—” Eric starts, sighing when Jude abruptly cuts him off.

 

“Yes, several times!  He just grunts at me and I swear to God, the next time he does, I’m going to—to like—I don't know, punch him in the face!” Jude exclaims.

 

“Jude, sweetheart, calm down,” Eric implores.  Jude slumps down on the bench at the bus stop just a block from the Haus, using a hand to muss up his hair.

 

“I swear I didn’t say anything to piss him off, so why does he hate me all of the sudden?” Jude says, quietly this time, letting his head loll back against the bench and his eyes close.

 

“I know what you mean, sweetheart,” Eric replies, sitting down next to him and blowing out a long breath.  “And I wish I had an answer for you.”

 

“Why are boys so fucking frustrating?”

 

“I ain’t got the answer to that either,” Eric sighs as a bus pulls up to the stop.  They climb on and sit down, since the bus isn’t very crowded.

 

“I’m sorry for ignorin’ you, by the way.  I’ve just kinda been havin’ my own crisis to deal with,” Eric says after a minute.

 

“Oh shit, really?” Jude asks.  “What’s going on?”

 

“It’s Jack,” Eric shakes his head.  “He’s been actin’ weird and avoidin’ me since the first day of break.  I don’t know what’s goin’ on, and Shitty don’t seem to know either and it’s just—this whole situation is turnin’ into a mess and I can’t figure out how to fix it.”

 

“I’m sorry Bitty.”

 

“Oh don’t be.  There ain’t nothin’ for you to be sorry ‘bout,” Eric chuckles and shrugs.  “We can’t do anything about those boys and their moods.  _Lord knows_ they’re both stubborn as hell, and if we try to push ‘em, they’re just gonna resist.  We just gotta let ‘em figure it out on their own.”

 

“I don’t want to, but I guess you’re right,” Jude responds quietly.

 

“Now I hope you don’t mind makin’ a trip to the murder Stop’n’Shop while we’re out,” Eric says, changing the subject while he has a chance.  “I need to start stockin’ up for Christmas dinner.  I’ve got one heckuva feast planned, just you wait.”

 

Jude laughs.  “Yeah Bitty, of course.”

 

He bites his lip and then says “I told my moms we were dating.  You know, so they won’t blow our cover to the other guys.”

 

And well, Eric was hoping he wouldn’t have to play this charade with Jude’s moms too, but Jude makes a good point about why they should.  They don’t need an accidental reveal upsetting the already delicate trim of their situation.

 

“Good thinkin’,” he nods.

 

“They’re probably going to be a little much though, so—sorry in advance.”

 

Eric huffs a laugh.  “But aren’t everyone’s parents like that?”

* * *

 

Bob calls at 7:30.  Jack is already up (albeit simply staring at the ceiling), but what Bob is doing up at 4:30 AM, Vancouver time, Jack has no idea.

 

“Papa?”

 

“Ah, you’re up.  Good, your mother thought I was going to wake you,” Bob replies coolly.

 

“No,” Jack murmurs.  “I’ve been up.”

 

“Good, good.  So how’s the break been?” Bob asks, and Jack sighs internally.

 

“It’s fine,” he lies.  It’s been anything but fine; he’s still a jumbled, tangled, knotted up mess of emotions because of Bittle, but he’s not going to talk to his dad about that.  He really just—doesn’t want to talk to anyone right now.  _Period_.

 

“Good,” Bob says, and because it’s his dad, he gets away with lying; if it was his mom, Jack would’ve never had a chance.  “You get a chance to see the Canucks game last night?”

 

“No,” Jack responds, because he was at Faber, shooting countless pucks at an empty net in an attempt to channel his frustration and—he’s _almost_ willing to admit— _jealousy_.

 

“Ah, that’s a shame.  It was a great game, came down to the last thirty seconds of overtime.”

 

“Hmm,” Jack hums dismissively; he’s really not in the mood to talk about hockey with his dad.

 

“Yes, _ahem_ , anyway,” Bob continues on, having caught onto Jack’s disinterest.  “I called because your mother and I would like to come join you in Samwell on Christmas.”

 

“Oh um,” Jack stutters, nearly dropping his phone.  “That’s—it’s—we already have—c-company coming to the Haus on Christmas.”

 

“Oh really?” Bob says with a disbelieving tone to his voice.

 

“Yeah.  Jude's—his family is coming over,” Jack stammers, any pretense of him actually having a grip on this conversation having disappeared.

 

“Jude?  I don’t remember there being a Jude on the team,” Bob says, and Jack can picture the way his eyebrows are arched, the way his arms are crossed, the way he always stares Jack down when he thinks he’s not telling him the truth.

 

“He’s not,” Jack says, raising his voice slightly.  _Merde_ , why does his dad always have to treat him like this, like he doesn't believe a single word that comes out of Jack’s mouth?  “Lardo—she’s trying to get him to take over as manager after she graduates in a couple years because—well, all the guys really like him and he gets along with them well.”

 

_Also, he’s Bittle’s boyfriend_ , Jack doesn’t say, even though that’s an important detail.  But he’s going to hold off acknowledging that fact aloud as long as he can manage.

 

“I see.  Well, then I’d love to meet him, and his family.”

 

“I—I’m not sure Bittle will—”

 

“Nonsense, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.” Bob interrupts.  “Your mother can always help in the kitchen if need arises.”

 

“Papa—” Jack protests, but Bob cuts him off again.

 

“This is not up for discussion, Jack.  We will see you on Christmas day,” Bob says firmly, and then hangs up.

 

_“Tabarnak,”_ Jack swears, tossing his phone aside.  The last thing he needs is for his parents—specifically his mom to be here.  She thinks she knows something about Jack and his feelings for Bittle and—well, she does, but she’s not very subtle and— _crisse_ , Jack doesn’t want to think about how she might end up embarrassing him and possibly, by extension, Bittle, in front of Jude’s— _his boyfriend’s_ parents, Jack disgustedly corrects himself as he rolls over and screams into his pillow.

* * *

 

Jack surprises Eric when, on Christmas Eve, he tells Eric his parents are coming on Christmas.  Eric takes a panicked trip to the Stop’n’Shop to pick up extra supplies (thankfully, they’re still open and have what he needs), but he has it under control quickly.  He tries being light, chirping Jack, but the conversation between them is stilted and awkward, not that he has time to do anything about that.

 

He doesn’t sleep well that night because of nerves, but that’s okay, he needs to be up early to start baking so everything will be done by dinner time.

* * *

 

He’s up to his elbows in dough, covered in flour when the doorbell rings.  Everyone’s awake, but Jack, Con and Jude are all hiding out in different places of the Haus, and he can hear Shitty shouting as he’s on the phone with—Eric shudders—his dad, so it’s up to him to answer the door.

 

“Coming!” Eric shouts, quickly rinsing his hands off and quickly making his way out of the kitchen, yelling up the stairs “Y’all get your butts down here, company is arrivin’!”  When he opens the front door, he’s greeted by a whole host of people.  “Oh my Lord,” he drawls, because there are seven people standing outside the Haus and he wasn’t prepared for them all to show up at the same time and it feels a little like letting people into the Haus on the night of a kegster.

 

“Eric?” says the medium height, blonde woman standing at the front of the group with a tall, dark-skinned woman.

 

Eric swallows and nods, stepping inside to let them come in.

 

“ _Yo Jude_ , bro, where you at?” one of the boys shouts, barely pausing to kick off his shoes before tearing off into the living room.

 

“Jesus, dude, calm down!” the dark-skinned woman says, twisting her head around to see where the boy—Jesus— has run off to.  Jude rushes down the stairs and is bear-hugged by another boy, with Jesus coming in close behind, and it’s little bit like what Ransom and Holster do to Eric when they’ve come back after a long break: close to rough housing, but not quite, and definitely very good-natured and affectionate.

 

At the top of the stairs, Jack is watching the gaggle of people now congregated in the foyer, looking a bit like a startled deer, and Eric giggles softly.  Even if the last week with Jack has been difficult, he’s still so unbearably, endearingly and adorably awkward and Eric is still so far gone for him that it just slips out.

 

He spends a few long seconds staring at Jack, until the spell is broken when Shitty comes down.

 

“Thank fuck!  Thank you for saving me from a fu—” he pauses when Eric glares at him.  They are _going_ to make a good impression on Jude’s family, or else they might not let him within fifty feet of the Haus again, and then Lardo might murder them all.  “—terrible conversation with my father,” Shitty finishes lamely.

 

Jack comes down once Con does, and they’re all crowded in the foyer.  The blonde woman clears her throat, turning to Eric.  “Eric, love, it’s nice to meet you.  I’m Stef, and this is my wife Lena.”

 

They’re followed by the rest of the family all raising their hands as they say their names.  Jude’s siblings introduce themselves as Brandon, Jesus, Mariana, and Callie, and so does Jude’s Grandma Sharon.

 

“Nice to meet y’all,” Eric says, his drawl more pronounced because of his nerves, and then Shitty steps forward.

 

“I’m Shitty Knight, and welcome, Adams-Foster’s, to the glory that is the Haus!” he announces, and Eric groans.

 

“Why would you call it ‘the Haus’?” Jesus asks.  “Hockey isn’t a—”

 

“German,” a girl who Eric thinks is Mariana tells him, rolling her eyes.

 

“Yeah, a German sport,” Jesus continues.  Eric makes eye contact with Jack as Jesus asks the question and Jack nods, helping Eric get Stef and Lena into the kitchen, sparing them Shitty’s fifteen minute long explanation of why it’s called “the Haus”.

 

Stef and Lena sit down at the table and Eric goes back to his pastry dough.  Jack pushes Shitty, Con and the rest of the Adams-Foster’s into the living room, and the doorbell rings again.

 

“Jack, sweetheart, will you get that?” Eric calls out, the tips of his ears burning pink when he realizes he let the term of endearment slip by accident.  Eric avoids turning around until he hears Jack shuffle into the kitchen with his parents.

 

“Eric dear, it’s absolutely lovely to see you again!” Alicia exclaims, walking over and hugging Eric.

 

“It’s nice to see you to Mrs. Zim—Alicia,” Eric greets, catching himself at the last second.  Alicia beams and then Jack is pulling her back towards him, Eric watching anxiously as Jack introduces his parents.

 

“Maman, Papa,” Jack mumbles, his face flushing slightly.  “These are Jude’s parents, Stef and—”

 

“Lena,” she says after Jack stutters for a few seconds.

 

“Sorry.  And Lena,” Jack apologizes for forgetting her name; _bless his sweet, Canadian heart_ , Eric thinks.

 

Bob’s eyebrows arch in surprise and Jack scowls at him.  There’s palpable tension between the two of them, and _God bless_ Alicia for stepping in.

 

“It’s wonderful to meet you Stef and Lena,” she says, extending her hand, shaking Stef and Lena’s as she makes introductions.  “I’m Alicia Zimmermann, that’s my husband Bob, and of course, our son, Jack.”

 

Stef’s eyes go wide and Eric braces himself because good Lord, here it comes.  “You don’t mean Bob Zimmermann as in ‘Bad Bob’ Zimmermann?”

 

“In the flesh,” Bob says proudly.

 

“Jude, love, get in here!” Stef bellows.

 

“Mom?” Jude inquires, appearing in the kitchen, looking slightly more ruffled than not even five minutes ago.

 

“Love, why didn’t you tell us that ‘Bad Bob’ Zimmermann was going to be joining us for Christmas Dinner?” she questions, looking more than a little starstruck.

 

“Errrm,” Eric interjects before Jude can answer.  “No one knew they were comin’ until yesterday.”

 

_“Jack Laurent Zimmermann,”_ Alicia admonishes, and Jack ducks his head and blushes.  “You’ve known we were coming for almost a week, and you gave Eric a day’s notice?  On Christmas Eve, no less!”

 

“Sorry maman,” Jack murmurs as Jesus comes tumbling into the kitchen, looking just as awestruck as Stef.  They end up on each of Bob’s arms and they pull him into the living room, and Alicia trails out close behind, leaving just Eric, Jack and Lena in the kitchen.

 

“I’m going to…” Jack starts and then trails off, his face red as he turns and exits the kitchen.

 

“Is there anything I can help you with?” Lena asks, and Eric yelps.  He’d gotten distracted by introductions and completely forgotten about the meal he’s supposed to be cooking.  He frantically directs Lena to work on peeling potatoes while quickly turning his attention back to the lump of pastry dough on the counter.

 

“I’m sorry about the commotion,” Lena says over the dull roar emanating from the living room.

 

Eric chuckles and shakes his head.  “This Haus ain’t a stranger to commotion.”

 

“I’d assume so, since you guys appear to be on frat row,” Lena remarks and oh boy, Eric thinks he can hear judgment in her voice, this ain’t gonna be good.

 

“Jack and the other boys work hard to make sure things don’t get outta hand here,” Eric replies defensively.

 

“Relax, I know,” she says, putting a hand on Eric’s shoulder.  “I’m not worried; Jude speaks very highly of everyone here.”

 

“Jude’s a really good guy,” Eric responds, relaxing as much as he can, given the day and the circumstances.  “The boys just love him to death, and he really seems to fit in well.  I think they’ve adopted him as another member of the team, which—no one here can remember that happenin’ to an outsider before.  Ransom and Holster are already at work on his hockey nickname.  I think their favorite so far is Fosty, but they’re still working on it,” Eric chuckles, because Jude is probably the first person he’s seen R & H get stumped on a nickname for.

 

“Does everyone have a nickname?” Lena asks.

 

“Everyone, ‘cept Jack,” Eric giggles.  “Shitty’s tried, but nothin’s ever stuck.”

 

“Ah, I see,” Lena grins, and then pauses.  “And where does— _Shitty_ —come from?”

 

“He says it’s ‘cause his first name is shitty.  Honestly, all we know is that it starts with a B.  Actually, I suspect that Jack probably knows, but no one can get anythin’ outta him,” Eric explains.

 

“Well, if I have any ideas for Jude’s, I’ll let you know,” Lena chortles. "However you might want to ask Mariana...she might have one for you," Lena adds, knowing that Jude won't forgive his sister if she tells them his nickname, but she can't resist.

 

“Oh I’m sure Rans and Holster will really appreciate that.”

 

It’s quiet for a few seconds, the only sounds the thwack of the peeler working on the potatoes and the noise from an apparently heated discussion happening in the living room.  “You seem like a very tight group,” she says.

 

“We all got each other’s backs,” Eric shrugs, because there really aren’t words to describe the sense of—of _family_ he gets from the Samwell Hockey team.

 

“It—it makes his mom and I feel a lot better about him being so far away from home, knowing that there’s a whole group of people looking out for him,” she says quietly.  “So thank you.”

 

“It ain’t anythin’ they wouldn’t do for anyone else on the team,” Eric says, blushing darkly.  “And he’s as much a part of the team as the other boys.”

 

“He—he really likes being a part of the group,” Lena sighs.  “He seems really happy and we’re just—very glad.  It’s great to hear all the stories you know, like ‘Ransom and Holster did this’, or ‘Con said that’, or ‘Hey, Jack looked at me without glaring at me today’, stuff like that.  I get the impression that Jack doesn’t like him very much, though.”

 

“Oh, it's not that at all...Jack's just—he ain’t that good with other people,” Eric laughs and shakes his head.  “Jack takes some gettin’ used to, but once you do he’s—he’s great, y'know?”

 

“Hmm, I’m sure he is,” Lena hums.  “Can I ask you something?”

 

Eric swallows and nods, because they’ve probably reached the point where the interrogation begins.

 

“I—I was a little surprised when Jude told us you were dating,” she begins.

 

“Oh,” Eric says, looking over his shoulder, praying that Jude was somewhere nearby to save him from this conversation, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

 

“He doesn’t talk about you like someone that he would want to date,” she continues, and Eric bites his tongue until she actually asks him a question.  “He does with Connor, but not with you.  And you clearly talk about Jack like that, but not Jude.  And I just wonder—are you really dating or is there something else going on?”

 

“It’s—it’s complicated,” Eric answers, because God, it’s so, _so_ complicated, and Eric doesn’t really want to tell her the truth, but he doesn’t want to lie to her either.

 

“Hmm, I see.  I just don’t want to see Jude getting hurt—”

 

“ _Goodness no_ , I’d never want that to happen!” Eric squeaks.  Jude is his friend—best friend maybe, given the way things are with Jack right now and he’d do anything he could to make sure Jude didn’t get hurt.  “We’re—we’re just tryin’ to keep each other from gettin’ hurt,” Eric sighs, because that’s the truth.

 

“What do you mean?” Lena says, cocking her head to the side in curiosity.

 

Eric checks behind him, making sure Jack and Con aren’t anywhere nearby.  “Jude and I—we got crushes on boys we can’t have.  Jack and Connor, y'know?  So we vent to each other.  And the other boys, they’re the ones who’ve built it up to be more than it is and we just—decided to play along, rather than fightin’ it.”

 

“Well, I’m not sure that’s the best idea, but I’m glad you have each other to talk to,” Lena says just as Stef walks back into the kitchen.

 

Eric half-listens as Stef begins to gush about meeting “Bad Bob” and Lena—well it looks like she’s listening, but Eric suspects she’s pretending to be listening, the way his mama does when Coach really gets going about the latest Falcons game.  He grins and shakes his head, sparing a thought to where Jude has disappeared to before letting it go and getting back to work, because there’s so much more baking to be done before dinner time.

* * *

 

His family has been there for barely fifteen minutes when Mariana corners him, while Jesus and Stef are in the middle of embarrassing him in front of Jack’s dad, and drags him upstairs.  They go into Bitty’s room, and Jude stands in the middle of the floor, clenching his eyes shut, because he knows why Mariana has dragged him up here and he _doesn’t_ want to talk about it.

 

“Okay Jude, what’s going on?  You tell me you have a crush on Connor but moms say you’re dating Eric?” she says, crossing her arms, and this is one of those times where Jude wishes he had just kept his mouth shut, rather than telling _Mari_ , the absolutely worst person to tell, about his crush on Connor.

 

“Mari, Bitty’s actually gay and like, a-attractive so—why wouldn’t I want to date him?” Jude stutters and stalls.

 

“You can cut the crap,” Mariana rebukes, forcing Jude to sit down on Bitty’s bed.  “What’s really going on here?”

 

Jude debates for a moment whether to stick to the story, but Mariana’s always been pretty good at seeing through him, and he probably wouldn’t get anywhere.  “Fine, we’re not dating,” Jude sighs.  “But we want the other guys to think we are.”

 

Mariana arches her eyebrows questioningly.

 

“It’s Ransom and Holster’s fault,” Jude mutters with a bit more venom to his voice than he meant to have.  Because like—he loves this team and being a part of it, but they’re so fucking _nosy_ all the time, and if they’d just left Bitty alone, none of this would be happening.

 

“They wouldn’t leave Bitty be,” Jude says when Mariana looks at him, urging him to elaborate.  “They kept saying we were dating so we—we decided to just go along with it.”

 

Mariana frowns.  “And does Connor know that?”

 

Jude exhales softly and looks down at his hands in his lap.  “I don’t know.  Shitty and Lardo know, but I don’t think they’ve told anyone.”

 

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Mariana scowls, clearly frustrated.  “Connor’s your best friend, why haven’t you told him?”

 

“Why would he care?” Jude huffs, annoyed because he’s had this argument with himself approximately ten thousand times since the night of Winter Screw.  “Even if he did, there’s no point in trying to tell him now, since he’s not talking to me.  It hasn’t been the same between us since Bitty and I went to Winter Screw.”

 

Mariana’s eyes go wide and she sits down on the bed next to Jude, slapping his arm excitedly.  “He so totally _does_ care about you and Bitty!” she squeals.

 

“So you’re excited that he’s a homophobic asshole then?!” Jude exclaims, because that’s the only other explanation to this that he can think of.  Connor was okay with him being gay, until he thought he got a boyfriend.  That’s a thing that happens, and it sucks just as much as people who are homophobes from the start.

 

“No, Jude, _come on_!” Mariana groans, tugging on his arm.  “He’s upset because you’re dating Bitty when he _likes_ you!”

 

“That’s absolutely ludicrous,” Jude replies, standing up and walking over to the door.  “Connor’s as straight as—as Jack!”

 

“Kent Parson begs to differ on that assessment,” Mariana retorts dryly.

 

“What the hell does Kent Parson have anything to do with this?” Jude quips, because yeah, he knows who Kent Parson, captain of the Las Vegas Aces is, but as far as he knows, he has no association with Samwell or Jack.

 

“Oh come on Jude, you can’t tell me that you haven’t googled Jack before,” Mariana shakes her head.

 

“I haven’t,” Jude says flatly, because why would he?

 

“Oh my God, seriously?” Mariana sighs exasperatedly.  “Okay fine, I _have_ googled him, and I’ll tell you what went down.  Kent and Jack played together in Junior’s before Jack’s OD.  They were close—like really close and it’s pretty obvious that they were together.  All the pieces fit, so like, I’m ninety-nine percent sure Jack isn’t straight.”

 

“You can’t believe everything you see on the internet,” Jude says flatly, unimpressed.  “The internet still thinks he’s a crack head, which isn’t even _remotely_ true.”

 

“Jude—”

 

“No, Mari.  Remember the last time I listened to you about a boy?  Baxter Perry, tenth grade, made a huge fool out of myself?  Does that ring a bell?”

 

“Okay so whatever, I was wrong then but—”

 

“You’re wrong now, too,” Jude finishes for her, walking out of Bitty’s room and downstairs to the living room.

* * *

 

Jack wants to spend most of the day avoiding everyone.  He tries at least, because doesn’t want to hang out with Bittle’s boyfriend’s family, but he can’t hide out in the kitchen like he normally does.  Bittle is there, and Jack doesn’t want to be around Bittle.

 

So he ends up sticking close to his mom, despite her (not-so) subtly pushing him towards the kitchen.  He’s telling himself it’s for the purpose of making sure she doesn’t embarrass him, not because he doesn't have anyone else to spend the day with.

 

Grudgingly, Jack admits that Jude’s family is a riot.  The twins, Mariana and Jesus, bicker like Dex and Nursey (but with less wrestling, because Jesus is almost a foot taller than Mariana).  Sharon spends the entire time making backhanded and passive aggressive comments to Stef, and Stef is reduced to basically acting like a teenager in the way she’s interacting with her, and Jack guesses that Sharon is probably Stef’s mom.  Callie has her nose buried in her phone the way Bittle usually does, and Brandon is just sitting there, generally unfazed/unimpressed by the conversational chaos surrounding him.

 

Jack tries not to be too awkward, but he’s only making half an effort.  He just wants the day to be over, to get away from this reminder that he’s missed his chance dangling right in front of him.

 

Bittle calls them in for dinner, and there’s a mad rush for the table made by Jude’s brothers.  They spend so much time shoving and wrestling each other that they’re actually the last to the table.  Bittle starts laying out the food, and it looks mouth-wateringly delicious, like it always does.

 

Down at the end of the table, Stef and Lena both sit down and are whispering furiously, glancing back and forth between Jude and Bittle.  Mariana sits down next to Jude and starts elbowing him, giving him pointed looks, and Jude is turning beet red, staring down at his plate as he shovels food into his mouth.  Jesus sits down next to his dad and starts talking his ear off about his playing days again (like they hadn’t spent an hour doing that when he first arrived).  Con appears to be eating as fast as he can, looking like he might bolt from the table at any second.  His mom is striking up a conversation with Bittle (it’s about the food, thank God), and Callie and Brandon still seem uninterested in everything going on.

 

Shitty jabs him in the ribs.  “Jude and Bits aren’t even interacting with each other.  Fucking weird brah, right?” he whispers.

 

Jack shakes his head.  “I feel like this is pretty normal.”

 

Jack doesn’t have hardly any experience with situations like this, but he does remember the first time he and Kent had to be around his parents once they found out they were—well, _something_.  It looked a little like this.

 

The way Jack sees everything playing out right now sounds a little bit like this: Stef and Lena are sharing intelligence about Bittle, Mariana is being the curious older sister and Jude is trying to ignore her, his other siblings are staying out of it because they’ve had this happen to them before, and Bittle is too busy with the meal to notice anything.

 

It solidifies everything Jack thinks he’s been reading about the situation.  Any conversation he has during dinner is awkward because it’s hard to interact with people when he’s just really angry with himself and upset about the situation (he doesn’t really notice that all conversation at the table is really, _really_ awkward).  He sticks around long enough to have some of Bittle’s maple-crusted apple pie (hey, he’s upset, but he still won’t turn down Bittle’s pie).  He eats his pie quietly in a corner of the living room while his mom sits down next to him and tries to push him to talk to Bittle.  He just shakes his head, finishes up his pie, quietly thanks Bittle for the delicious food, and excuses himself to his room, where he screams into his pillow again.


	8. Chapter 8

Connor walked into the Haus with his bags to get through the winter break. He was glad that Holster and Ransom had offered him the use of their room in the attic. He would get to stay at Samwell for the break and not have to worry about dealing with either his father or the empty house in Arizona. He was ready for some peace and quiet to deal with everything that had happened the last few weeks. Things with Jude had gotten really uncomfortable and Connor knew that he was making things worse but he couldn’t seem to help it. 

Ever since the Winter Screw Connor didn’t know how to act around Jude anymore. The big problem was he really liked Bitty so he couldn’t be mad at Jude for dating him and he couldn’t blame Bitty for liking Jude. Bitty was fearless. He was able to be open and free and he must have seen how amazing Jude was and he wasn’t afraid to ask him out. It was killing Connor to see them together and acting so happy when all he wanted to do was be the one that Jude was with instead.

Maybe this break would be what he needed to get some distance from the brunette and focus on other things so that he didn’t bring his turmoil to the ice. He was in need of some peace and quiet.

Connor looked up and saw Ransom and Holster coming down the stairs with their bags. “Con!” Holster yelled out with a smile. “Good timing bro! Let’s go to the attic” Holster said grabbing one of Connor’s bags and heading back upstairs while Ransom moved toward the kitchen. They ran up the stairs and walked into the room and Holster put the bag on the lower of the bunk beds.

“Okay, so you are in my bed, the lower bunk. I put on fresh sheets for ya and washed two towels for you as well” Holster said looking at him happily. “The washer and dryer are in the basement if you need to do laundry and you know where the bathroom is” Holster sat down at his desk while Connor put his bags down.

“I really appreciate you guys letting me stay here” Connor said the gratitude clear in his voice. “I will keep an eye on things till you get back!”

“Yeah…about that” Holster suddenly looked uncomfortable. “Some things have changed.”

“What do you mean?” Connor asked confused.

“Well, another guy needed a place to stay so Shitty offered them to stay as well” Holster told him.

“Oh…that’s cool” Connor said trying not to sound disappointed. He knew the other guys and they were cool so it shouldn’t be too bad.

“Well, after we offered a bed to both of you, then things got complicated” Holster continued not making eye contact.

“Okay” Connor said sounding not as certain.

“See Jack’s parents are traveling and he has to meet some team reps, so he is going to be staying as well” Holster continued.

“Oh! That’s cool” Connor was relieved. He really liked Jack, especially as he felt a bond for their captain as someone who knew what it was like growing up with a famous athlete father.

“Right” Holster squirmed a bit. “So then Bitty decided to stay to keep an eye of everyone who was staying and then Shitty’s family had something happen so know he is staying too. So basically they are all staying in their rooms, so the temp guys will need to share the attic” he finished.

Connor was a bit stunned. He went from spending the break in an empty Haus alone to being in a fully occupied place with the whole gang. He was surprised, but it might actually be fun. It would give him the chance to spend some time with Eric without thinking about Jude, so that would be good, right? “So who is the other guy?” Connor finally asked.

At that moment they heard Ransom yelling about their taxi being here to take them both to the airport. Holster jumped up and smiled. “Uh…oh, it’s Jude” Holster said and then was suddenly out the door leaving behind the boy who was starting to freak out.

Connor stood there in shock. He was going to spend the whole break sharing the attic with Jude?!?! WHAT THE HELL!?! He suddenly headed for the stairs trying to catch up with Holster but by the time he go to the first floor he didn’t see either of the d-men or their bags. Pushing into the kitchen he saw Bitty working on something at the counter but no one else.

Turning around at the sound, Bitty looked up and saw him “Hi Con!” Bitty said with a smile “you get all settled in the attic?”

“Uh…not yet. Is Holster still here?” Connor said trying to avoid the blonde’s eyes.

“Sorry hon” Bitty sounded concerned. “Their taxi just left.” He looked at the frog with concern “Is there anything I can do to help you? Did those boys forget to change the sheets? Cause you do NOT want to sleep on their beds unless you have clean sheets. I can get you some” Bitty was moving towards the door when Connor caught up to what he was saying.

“No…I mean yes, Holster said he put clean sheets out” Connor said and looked at Bitty’s confused face. “I just…I mean he just told me about everyone else staying for the break” Connor said trying not to sound upset, but by the look on Bitty’s face, he doesn’t think he succeeded.

“Oh…oh Con, I am sorry. It all kind of happened really fast with me and Jack and Shitty all staying. And since Jude was needing a place to stay Lardo asked if he could stay here. I think she is really trying to convince him to become a manager after she leaves” Bitty was rambling. “Then Jack had to stay and I thought about the three of you here all alone eating take out, which is totally not acceptable, so I decided to stay and then Shitty got into it with his family so he is staying as well and all of a sudden it was a full house.” Bitty got it all out without pausing for breath while Connor just stared.

“Oh…okay” Connor mumbled and turned to walk back to the attic. He wasn’t sure what to do because if he tried to back out he would have to explain why. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad?

* * *

 

It was that bad. No…it was worse. Connor thought he could manage it but he was failing miserably. First of all he had a freak out when Jude showed up at the Haus with his stuff and rather than be in the place while Jude was putting his stuff in their shared room, he said he forgot something in his dorm room and took off to calm down, but he only managed to buy himself a few hours. He had to go back for dinner and it was the most awkward dinner he ever attended. 

Bitty had made a great dinner, really he did, but the atmosphere was so strained, Connor would have preferred to avoid eating if he could have. Jack was barely speaking during dinner, he only replied with one word to anything anyone said and kept his eyes on his plate. Jude was just as bad except he kept looking at Bitty and Jack nervously. Shitty was talking up a storm but Connor could see that the strain of the air in the kitchen was getting to him. Bitty was constantly jumping up to get something and rambling all the time while Connor just tried to keep his head down. As soon as dinner was over Jack fled to his room, Connor went out to the couch where he and Shitty got lost in a video game and Jude and Bitty stayed in the kitchen doing god knows what.

“So…dinner” Shitty started and Connor flinched. “Gotta say bro, that was one of the strangest that we have had in the Haus.”

Connor just grunted and focused on trying to take out Shitty in Mario Kart but the guy was really good at this game. “I mean, it was like there was some kind of tension going on ya know?” Shitty continued and Connor could see him looking at Connor sideways.

“Want a beer?” Connor asked standing up.

“Thought you didn’t drink?” Shitty said surprised.

“I don’t” Connor said with a smirk “but I want a soda and thought you might prefer beer.”

Shitty sighed and agreed. They continued to play till Connor’s eyes started getting sticky and he looked down and saw it was nearly 2:00am and the rest of the Haus was out. “Think it’s time for bed” Shitty said with a yawn, a slight slur to his voice thanks to the beers he had been drinking steadily all night. 

Connor nodded tiredly and they both headed upstairs but didn’t see anyone. Connor continued to the attic where he saw Jude was already asleep in the top bunk. Connor shucked his shirt and jeans and collapsed into the bed in his boxer briefs and pulled the covers over him as he thought ‘one day down, rest of break to go.’

It was tough. The next two days were stressful but not as bad as that first night. Connor had gone to Faber to skate and ran into Jack and they had ended up practicing together for about two hours without saying much and it was actually nice. Jack was super focused and just wanted to immerse himself in hockey and Connor was more than willing to do so as well. They even agreed to go work out after lunch that day and it was just as easy. Neither of them really felt the need to fill the air with conversation and they just worked out quietly. Connor had popped in his earbuds and tuned out everything and just focused on the feel of the workout.

They were walking back to the Haus in comfortable silence when they saw Shitty sitting out on the front lawn in a beach chair in the snow. It was crazy but he was sitting there shirtless with a scarf, hat, heavy pants, and snow boots.

“Shitty” Jack said in a tired voice. “What are you doing?”

“Getting some sun brah” Shitty said behind his sunglasses “and avoiding the chaos of the kitchen” he added.

Jack frowned and Connor wondered what was going on. The kitchen was Bitty’s territory and it was rarely chaotic…he didn’t like it when things were not under control. 

“What’s wrong?” Connor asked confused.

“Oh, nothing much. Bitty is going a bit crazy with the menu for Christmas Dinner” Shitty laughed. “He is really looking forward to having a full house.”

“Five people isn’t that much” Connor mused but the look on Jack’s face made him falter.

“Bro” Shitty snickered. “Dinner is currently like 10 or 12 people I think.”

Connor looked really confused. “Jude’s family is coming to dinner” Jack mumbled. Connor saw Shitty raise his sunglasses to look at their captain. Connor frowned…why was Jude’s family coming?

“Yeah…that’s why he stayed at Samwell” Shitty said into the silence. “Since they were all meeting up here this year, Bitty invited them to join us” he explained.

Connor just shook his head and noticing that Jack was hovering and looking uncomfortable he figured that Jack wanted to talk with Shitty so he just walked into the Haus. Heading into the kitchen he was looking for something to nibble on before dinner. Walking into the kitchen he saw Jude and Bitty, both in aprons, making cookies. Connor smiled for a second at how Jude looked in the apron that said ‘Kiss the Cook’ before realizing that they were laughing together. 

Bitty looked up as Connor entered. “You hungry Con?” he asked cheerfully. “We made a fresh Coconut Chocolate pie” he said pulling out a plate and utensils. He was already moving a plate to the table before Connor could respond and once he saw it he wasn’t going to pass it up. Sitting down he took a bit and almost passed out it was so good. He groaned in pleasure and his eyes flew open at the sudden sound of breaking glass and realized that Jude had dropped the glass he was drying. Bitty laughed at Jude and they started trying to clean up as Jude stammered out an apology though Connor didn’t get why he was so upset about dropping a glass.

“Why don’t you go watch tv or play a game” Bitty said kindly to Jude. “We are at a place to take a break anyways. Connor? Why don’t you two go play video games huh? Can you keep him occupied for a bit?” Bitty asked and Connor froze and looked at Jude who also looked surprised but he couldn’t come up with a reason why not. He just nodded and they walked into the room to sit in front of the TV. They discussed games for a bit before settling on Call of Duty and Connor discovered that Jude was a really sneaky player. He was really good and kept him on his toes but as teammates they were able to move along quickly. 

He was surprised when all of sudden Bitty came in to drag them to dinner and he realized they had been playing for nearly three hours. Dinner was pretty easy this time until dessert and Bitty started talking about how Jude had made the pie for them. He was gushing about how good Jude had learned during their time in the kitchen and how they were going to surprise Jude’s family with some desserts that he would make. 

Connor was looking at Jack while Eric was talking and saw the stress in his face but he didn’t understand why. Jude’s family was coming sure, and Jack didn’t really do crowds, but he didn’t figure out why them coming to the Haus…Connor froze. They were coming to meet Bitty! He suddenly felt his mouth go dry and his throat close. Bitty was meeting the parents?!?!

The pie in Connor’s mouth suddenly felt like ash and he wanted to run but he didn’t want to cause a scene and then all of sudden Shitty was talking about a movie marathon and dragged everyone to the living room to watch cheesy holiday movies while he gave a running commentary about how they perpetuated gender roles and stereotypes. Normally this would be funny, especially as Shitty was getting more and more creative with each beer he drank, but Connor was just freaking out and wanting to hide. When he finally managed to escape he climbed in to his bed and pretended to be asleep when Jude came up an hour later. He had felt sick since dinner and knew that it was only going to get worse.

* * *

 

Connor walked from the shower back to attic annoyed. He had grabbed his boxer briefs but had managed to grab a dirty shirt and the jeans he spilled coffee on yesterday instead of a clean pair so he went up to the room with his towel around his waist hoping Jude was still asleep but fate was a cruel mistress indeed. Connor opened the door and saw Jude standing there in a pair of tight, bright blue briefs and nothing else, his back to the door giving Connor an amazing view of a glorious rear end that stole his breath away. Then…to make it 100 times worse, Jude, who hadn’t realized Connor had walked in the room and had froze at the sight before him, bent over to grab his jeans off the floor and Connor nearly passed out.

How in the name of god could the view have gotten better?!? Connor felt all the blood rush from his brain and he knew exactly where it went as he suddenly realized that the towel around his waist was the only thing shielding him from declaring his feelings clear to anyone. Jude pulled his jeans on jumping a bit causing a slight bounce in the view that drew a startled squeak out of Connor and causing Jude to turn around in surprise.

“Connor!” Jude said suddenly as he buttoned his jeans, skinny jeans that sat really low on his hips! He looked at the blonde boy and was confused by the expression on his face and suddenly Jude looked really nervous “Is everything okay?” 

Connor didn’t trust his voice and just grunted and nodded and broken from the spell he had been under, he averted his eyes from the other man’s chest with the toned chest, hint of abs, and a delicious dusting of hair that started just below his belly button running down to…Connor slammed the door on his brain’s train of thought and grabbed a pair of jean, loose fitting or he wouldn’t be able to get them on. He slid them on under the towel, afraid to take it off while Jude was there.

“So…got any plans for today” Jude said awkwardly trying to start a conversation to break up the awkward silence but Connor couldn’t find his voice to respond. He knew that if he tried to talk that his voice would give him away. Instead he just shook his head and grunted again before grabbing a sweatshirt and tossing it on and hurriedly leaving the room. Once he got down the first set of stairs he diverted towards the bathroom and shut and locked the door. Leaning up against the cool counter Connor tried to collect himself but all he could see was that image, burned into his brain, of Jude standing there and OMG that ass!

Connor seriously considered jumping into the shower, water on ice cold, or maybe even finding a different release, but being in a full house did not encourage him to risk it…at the moment. He heard Jude walk down from the attic and then head downstairs. Connor tried to figure out how he was going to calm down enough to deal with this when he suddenly heard Shitty and Bitty’s voices. Cracking open the door he heard Bitty saying that he and Jude were leaving and he decided he could run down to the kitchen if he was careful. 

He tried to slip by the two of them talking, keeping his head down so he wouldn’t have to look at Bitty because if he did he knew he would look totally guilty. Passing them with a grunt, wow his verbal skills were amazing today, Connor was almost to the bottom of the stairs when he realized that Jude was standing there looking up at him. Looking away quickly he ducked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl and some cereal so that he would have some reason to be hiding in there. It also had the benefit of giving him something to fill his mouth so he wouldn’t have to talk. Luckily he heard the front door open and close without anyone coming into the kitchen and he sighed in relief knowing that Jude and Bitty were out for the moment.

Connor leaned back and groaned. That could have gone better he knew, but if he had tried to speak Jude would have surely realized something was wrong and it would have all come out. He sat there for a moment trying to catch his breath when the door opened and Jack walked in and grabbed a powerbar and poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting down.

Jack nods at Connor in greeting and they both sit there enjoying the quiet for a bit before Jack clears his throat nervously. “So…any plans for today?” Jack tried and Connor smiled at his attempt at small talk. It always amazed Connor how awkward Jack seemed in social settings. Growing up with a famous father, he would have thought that he would have mastered small talk like Connor did, but maybe it was the Canada thing that was different…or playing in the same sport as his dad.

“Not really” Connor replied. “My dad is supposed to call today between his appointments or something. I think he is doing some press interview or something before meeting with some of his business partners. He just said he would call today so I need to be available.”

“I don’t think I ever heard what your dad does” Jack admitted sheepishly.

Connor laughed. “I usually avoid telling people” Connor admitted “and since Stevens isn’t as unique as Zimmermann, people don’t usually connect the dots.”

Jack frowned. “What do you mean?” he asked Connor.

Connor sighed. “I would prefer it not get around too much, I mean the team is fine, but my dad,” he paused for another breath “is Adam Stevens, the baseball player.”

Jack’s eyes widened. “Wait…your dad is Adam Stevens?” he laughed softly. “that means your mom is…” Connor just nodded and Jack laughed again.

“Bro” Jack snickered and held out his fist which Connor bumped while laughing. “I can’t believe you never said anything.” They talked for a while about growing up with their dads and Connor was surprised how easy it suddenly was talking to Jack. Each time one of them would make a comment about ‘the life’ the other would laugh and finish the thought. Jack was surprised that Connor avoided playing baseball as he couldn’t imagine not playing hockey but he got Connor’s explanation that his dad pretty much ignored him until he was in high school and by then Connor had avoided baseball so it was too late for him to make the decision for him.

Having famous moms was also a shared experience though Connor did admit to himself feeling a pang of jealousy knowing that Jack’s parents were not only still in love, but were both invested in his life. He saw the sympathy in Jack’s face when Connor admitted that he had only seen his mother a total of three weeks in the last ten years. She was a stranger to Connor, almost as much as his father, and the only reasons that he hadn’t turned into one of ‘those’ kids was because his grandfather didn’t put up with any of that crap and whenever he messed up his dad was a nightmare to live with. As long as Connor didn’t show up on the radar, he ignored his son and that was the way Connor preferred it. His hockey coach was more of a father than his dad and he didn’t see any reason to change that.

They were still talking over an hour later when Shitty came in and saw the two of them sitting there laughing and talking and he froze, a look of shock on his face. Both of them looked completely different from the last few days he had seem them and Shitty felt a wave of satisfaction that they finally seemed comfortable though he was completely surprised. He would have preferred that Bitty and Jude were involved, but he was going to take what he could get. 

“So” Connor says into the silence as Shitty grabs himself a piece of pie to join them. “Sounds like it’s going to be an interesting dinner with a whole crowd here” Connor starts. He sees Jack frown and look uncertain while Shitty rolls his eyes.

“Really bro?” Shitty replies. “Should be fun with a crowd…nothing really special, I mean” he finishes looking at Jack who just grunts.

“Nothing special?” Connor mutters. “Really?”

“Oh not you too” Shitty groans. 

“Not me too what?” Connor looks confused and notices Jack is glaring at Shitty.

“Oh just that someone thinks that this is a big ‘meet the parents’ kind of thing’ or something” Shitty laughs.

Connor just looks at him confused. “But isn’t it?” he asks.

Jack just smirks knowingly while Shitty shakes his head. “No…I don’t think so. I think Jude’s family was already planning on being here and Bitty being Bitty wasn’t going to let anyone be alone for Christmas Dinner. He decided to stay because the thought of you, Jude and Jack all being here alone and eating tv dinners caused him to freak out. And once he decided to cook, he just invited Jude’s family so they could have a good meal” Shitty said with certainty. “Eric would never deny anyone a spot at his table, especially for the holidays.”

Jack frowned and put his head in his hands with a groan. “What?” Shitty narrows his eyes at Jack.

“My parents will be here too” he admits without looking up.

“Huh?” Connor says confused.

“They will be here for Christmas Day” Jack admits.

“So they are coming to dinner!” Shitty smiles. “See? It’s just a come-one, come-all kind of thing. What did Bitty say when you told him Bad Bob and Alicia were coming?”

Jack looked guilty but didn’t say anything.

“You have told him…haven’t you?” Shitty growled.

“Not exactly” Jack admitted.

“Bro…you are adding two people to dinner and he doesn’t know. You are taking your life into your own hands with that decision” Shitty laughs and stands up. “Don’t expect me to protect you when you tell him” he walks off laughing and Jack groans again.

Connor feels for Jack but then smiles when he realizes he will get to meet Bab Bob Zimmermann!!

* * *

 

Christmas morning and Connor is hiding in bed. He wants to hide out and is perfectly content pretending to be asleep as he as been doing often to avoid Jude. The last few days have been really difficult for Connor. Every time he sees Jude he just visualizes seeing him standing there in those briefs and no amount of ‘effort’ seems to drive the image from his head. To make matters worse the heat in the Haus has been acting up causing it to go overboard and combined with Bitty’s cooking, the attic is much warmer than the rest of the Haus. As a result Jude keeps going to bed shirtless and while Connor has managed to come in after Jude was in bed twice, he also had to deal with Jude changing into sweats twice and both times he was wearing those briefs so in addition to blue he now knows how Jude looks in green and purple. Sure Connor could have turned away or closed his eyes, but seriously?!? Both times ended with Connor being unable to fall asleep for hours as the images were burned on his eyeballs.

This morning wasn’t too bad except the aromas of Bitty’s cooking had just arrived in the attic and Connor’s stomach wasn’t concerned about what had become his morning ‘difficulty’. Suddenly Jude landed on the floor in front of Connor with his backside facing the blonde, sweats hanging low giving him a flash of color…yellow!?! Jude moves toward his bag and grabs a shirt that he pulls on before looking over at Connor who is too slow to pretend to be asleep.

“Are you coming to breakfast?” Jude asks politely indifferent.

“Yeah” Connor mumbles. “I will be down in a few” Connor says hoping Jude will leave so he can hide his ‘problem’.

Jude stares at him for a second before turning and walking out. Connor sighs and sits up frustrated. Ever since Winter Screw things between him and Jude have been awful. Connor knows it his fault, Jude hasn’t done anything wrong except date a guy who not only likes him, but isn’t afraid to be seen with him. Connor sighed again and stood up and grabbed a pair of jeans that he threw on over his boxers and his Samwell hoodie. Maybe he should talk to Shitty after all about all of the stuff in his head.

Breakfast is…okay. Bitty has made a great meal for all of them, but it’s not heavy and even though Bitty expects everyone to eat together to, it is actually fun. He does warn us that dinner will be a feast and based on all the food already made, it is going to be insane. After eating he throws everyone out, strangely enough even Jude, to keep out of his kitchen. Both Jack and Jude offered to help but he simply looked at them and shook his head before kicking them out. 

Shitty plopped down on the couch and pulled out the game console and called for opponents. Jude, laughing, sat down to join him and Jack sat down on a chair to watch so Connor decided to sit next to Jack and they decided to provide commentary for the game and while Jack tried, he quickly gave in and let Connor take over. Shitty and Jude both managed to laugh at his comments, though Jack seemed shocked more than once, but it was going pretty well and the tension was definitely dropping when Shitty’s phone went off. 

Luckily it was his mom, but the mood started shifting and the tension began to rise. Connor lost track of Jack in one moment and then he was gone and Connor was left sitting alone in the room with Jude which made him start to sweat. Suddenly Bitty called out for assistance and Jude dashed off to the kitchen and Connor sat for a second before he decided to see if he could help. 

Two steps from the door his own phone went off and his dad’s name came up and he swallowed nervously. Answering the phone he heard his father offering a distracted ‘Merry Christmas’ before asking how his grades were and the progress of the team. Connor quickly realized that his father was making sure that his son wasn’t doing anything that would cause an issue and once he passed the obligatory check in, his father was gone leaving Connor staring at his phone. 

Hearing laughter coming from the kitchen, Connor turned and walked upstairs to tune out till dinner. His father, even when not around, managed to yet again ruin his holiday!

Connor wakes up, not even realizing he fell asleep, and heads downstairs where he hears Shitty’s voice coming from his room. He is yelling and Connor figures from it that he is talking to his family based on the stress there. Jack is standing at his door looking down the stairs and Connor can hear lots of voices and he figures that the crowds have arrived.

Shitty is suddenly heading down the stairs, his phone tossed back in his room, as he rushes past Jack and Connor down the stairs.

“Thank fuck! Thank you for saving me from a fu—” Shitty pauses and Connor sees Eric glaring at him in front of two nice looking ladies. Connor wants to laugh at the look on Eric’s face, a look that clearly promises dire retribution if any of them screw up his dinner and Shitty obviously gets the message “—terrible conversation with my father,” Shitty finishes lamely.

They step down as the women introduce themselves to Eric and the rest of Jude’s brothers and sisters before Shitty jumps forward to introduce himself, Jack and Connor and welcomes them to the Haus. Which leads to an argument between the twins about the name which leads to Shitty pontificating about the rich history of the Haus as they head to the living room while Eric, Jack and Jude’s parents move toward the kitchen. The next thing he knows he hears Jude’s mom, he’s not sure which, yelling for him.

He hears her saying ‘Bad Bob Zimmermann’ which causes one of Jude’s brothers to jump up and run to the kitchen. Suddenly there is Bad Bob himself with Jude’s mom, the blonde one, and his brother dragging Jack’s dad into the living room, both of them obviously starstruck. They start talking to him and Connor drifts over to listen in and introduce himself. He notices when Jude’s sister drags him off upstairs but before he can react Stef, her mother called her that and Connor caught it this time, turned to Connor.

“So Connor, what’s up with you that you ended up staying for the holidays?” she asked obviously trying to include him in the conversation.

Connor laughed and smiled, he liked her! “Well my dad is usually doing press or charity stuff for the holidays and he is in New York this morning, but has to be in LA tonight, so we talked on the phone earlier” he said, his public smile firmly attached.

“What’s your dad do?” Jude’s other sister, Callie?, asked him.

“He’s a retired athlete” Connor says carefully. “Nowadays he does business stuff, I’m really not sure exactly.”

“That’s cool” Jesus says with a smile. “What did he play?”

“Baseball” Connor replied hoping that would be it.

“We are a Padres family” Stef said with a smirk. “Who was he? Would we have heard of him?” she asked much more interested than before. Just his luck to find a baseball fan but he noticed that Bad Bob was suddenly looking a lot more interested as well so that was cool.

“Pretty sure you have. Adam Stevens of the Diamondbacks” Connor confessed and repressed the groan when he saw her reaction.

“Oh my god!” Stef gushed. “Your dad is Adam Stevens!?! I am going to kill that kid” he said shaking her head. “He is going to school with Bob Zimmermann’s and Adam Stevens’ sons and doesn’t mention it!”

Bob is laughing and Connor sees that Jesus is just as awestruck, something he is fairly used to. “Well to be fair, I don’t think I actually told Jude” Connor admitted.

The conversation now shifted as Stef and Jesus, and Bob!, all started asking about Connor’s dad. The funniest moment was when Stef mentioned having a poster of Adam from his rookie year in her dorm room, before she came out obviously, but she blushed about it much to the delight of her kids. Connor laughed at her blushing about it but then Jude and his other sister came down and they found out about Connor’s parents and while Mariana, that was her name!, was more interested in Connor’s mom, he looked at Jude and saw shock in his face as he looked back at Connor, the strangest expression on his face.

The rest of the time flies pretty quickly but he can’t shake the look that Jude gave him when he found out about his dad. Was he mad that Connor hadn’t mentioned it? Jude pretty much was avoiding him now and Connor thought that things were getting better. The twins were actually really funny with how they argued and Connor had kept getting cornered by Stef for stories about his dad and Mariana who wanted to hear about his mom. 

“Come on Connor” Mariana pleaded. “You have to have something really juicy you can tell me!”

Connor just smiled and shook his head. “Those stories are pretty valuable Mariana…you’d have to be able to give me something worth it.” He smirked at her expression but figured it would buy him some time. He didn’t have a lot to talk about his mother but he did have one or two stories that he could use if he needed to.

Mariana looked frustrated and pouted at him while fluttering her eyes in what he assumed was an attempt to break his will but he just snickered at her. Her eyes narrowed as she watched him smiling at her and then they slid over to her brother talking to his other sister and oldest brother. She suddenly got the most evil smile he had ever seen before.

“Oh, I have something” Mariana gloated. “But to get this…you have to give TMZ level stuff” she told him.

Connor raised his eyebrow in disbelief. “If it’s worth it…you have a deal” he conceded. “But you have to give it up first and then I will judge. That’s the deal” he said flatly.

She furrowed her brow before grabbing his arm and pulling him away from everyone and smiled. “Would you like to know Jude’s family nickname?” she teased. 

Connor’s face went blank. He really wanted to know but didn’t want her to know that but…he looked over at Jude for a second before looking back at her and saw the gleam in her eyes. “Give” he growled.

She smiled and leaned to whisper in his ear. Connor heard the word and froze, a look of pure joy crossing his face as he looked across the room at the brunette boy that he was crushing on so badly. He turned to look at Mariana and saw the triumph in her look. He knew she had earned this. Leaning over he whispered the story of his mom and a certain ex co-star of hers and their affair. Mariana’s eyes bulged as she got a huge smile on her face. “Satisfied?” he asked holding out his hand.

She smiled and nodded and shook his hand. “Use it wisely” she whispered before walking off.

By the time they got to dinner, Connor was emotionally drained and just wanted to eat and run but he wasn’t willing to miss out on Bitty’s desserts. After everyone ate, people started breaking apart. Jude went back with his family to spend the rest of the night at his sister’s apartment and would be coming back the next day. Jack and his parents were meeting up the next day for breakfast before they left and he met with team representatives. Shitty and Connor helped Bitty out in the kitchen, though it was a lot less than Connor was expecting. Bitty explained about cleaning as he went or something but by the time Connor crawled into bed he was exhausted and finally slept really well. 

* * *

 

After that dinner, the rest of the break seemed to speed along quickly. Connor tried really hard to not be weird around Jude, saying good morning and goodnight and making sure to look him right in the eye when they talked or were in the same place. He could see the confusion on his face, but Connor didn’t know how to repair things between them. His first impulse was to talk to Eric but he quickly discarded that thought. Though Bitty was definitely the one everyone talked to about emotions, this time he couldn’t tell him he had feelings for his boyfriend. He was walking down the hall when he felt a cold draft coming from Jack’s room and looking in he saw the window was wide open. Walking over to close it as he knew Jack had left that morning, he got to the window and saw Shitty sitting out on the roof.

“What are you doing?” Connor asked sticking his head out the window and was suddenly aware of the smell of the joint that Shitty was obviously smoking.

“Enjoying the reading room bro” Shitty replied happily. “Come out” he suggested and Connor snorted at the irony before climbing out. There were two chairs on the deck and he plopped down in the empty one.

Shitty held out the joint towards to Connor, the offer clear in the gesture. Though tempted, Connor declined politely considering that they were sitting outside, in the open, where anyone could see.  
They sat together for a bit in silence before Shitty cleared his throat. “So bro…how are you doing?” he started.

“Fine” Connor quickly replied. Too quickly obviously from Shitty’s soft laughter.

“Bro…you aren’t fine, but if you don’t want to talk about it…that’s cool” he said leaning back and looking up.

“Wh-what do you mean?” Connor stammered.

“You have obviously been upset all break bro” Shitty told him. “I don’t know what is wrong, but I know something is bothering you. Just know we are more than teammates here ya know?” he said looking at the younger man. “We are family and if you need something, we will be here for you.”

Connor nodded and felt a sense of connection with the senior sitting next to him. “Did you hear who my dad is?” Connor questioned.

“Oh yes. Famous baseball player” Shitty nodded wisely. “Didn’t think we had a second one of those; that was a real surprise.”

“Yeah, well, my dad is not the easiest father in the world” Connor snorted.

Shitty laughed. “Dude…problems with parents? You are so in the right place” he laughed and proceeded to tell Connor that almost everyone had issues. His own family were uptight, wealthy, East Coast snobs who were more embarrassed about him than their elitist ways. Jack’s father was a pro athlete like Connor’s and he said others had similar issues. He assured Connor that of anyone, his teammates would understand.

“Yeah…but it’s not the same. I mean Jack has to live in his dad’s shadow, but his dad loves him, it was obvious. But my dad…he is only interested in my life if I embarrass him. My mom? She barely acknowledges that I exist. I have learned to keep my head down, avoid attention, and pretend to be who they want me to be.”

Connor hadn’t meant to say that last part and he sees Shitty’s eyebrow raise up in question but he doesn’t say anything right away. He strokes his mustache for a few minutes before finally starting. “That’s true. Bob has stood by Jack even when Jack had his problems, but you see it doesn’t matter. We all deal with feeling we let our parents down sometime…or they let us down. The trick is to remember that you can only be true to yourself and let everyone else either accept you or not. You can’t control them, but you can’t let fear of what they will think control you either.”

“You make it sound so simple” Connor says softly.

“Well it’s not” Shitty admits. “Every situation is different bro. You have to be in a safe place to be able to stand up for yourself and sometimes that means compromising until you can do so. It’s never simple Connor, but living your truth?...that is the most important thing…no matter how long it takes you to get there.”

Connor sat there thinking about what he said and what he had been dealing with for the last few years and he was tired. Tired of pretending to be someone he wasn’t to avoid upsetting his dad. Tired of not being able to ask out the person he was interested in. Tired of constantly monitoring his language and words to make sure he does give anything away. He was just tired.

“And when your truth will change your world?” he finally asks.

“A world changed by truth is a better world” Shitty says clearly. 

“I’m not sure my dad would agree” Connor laughs softly. “Having a gay son was not part of his plan.”

Connor waited to see if Shitty would react but he just sat there, eyes closed, breathing quietly. Connor’s own breathing increased like a panic attack but it finally calmed down and he was able to breath normally again and all the while Shitty didn’t say anything. Connor was sure that the joint and the weather had joined together to cause him to fall asleep when he finally spoke.

“Was that the first time you said it out loud?” Shitty asked, eyes still closed.

Connor looked down at his feet for a moment before looking over at Shitty who was now watching him with the kindest expression Connor had seen. “Yeah” Connor whispered.

“Thank you for trusting me with this moment” Shitty said gently placing his hand on the blonde freshman’s shoulder. “First step is always the hardest.”

“I didn’t plan to ever tell anyone” Connor admitted. “You are pretty easy to talk to man” he said with a slightly surprised look on his face.

Shitty laughed and smiled when Connor looked up. “I guess so. People seem to come to meet to talk about this. Happens a lot. I think you are somewhere around number 25, the number of people who have come out to me over my time at Samwell. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, pan, demi…you name it.” 

Connor looks shocked. “Wait…really?”

“Yeah. One time sophomore year…five people came out to me in the same week” Shitty smiled. “I guess people know that I won’t judge them and will support them no matter what.”

“When I first got here and saw how everyone treated Bitty, I was blown away” Connor admitted. “I mean if everyone accepted him, I thought they might accept me too.”

“We would bro” Shitty promised.

“That wasn’t the problem Shitty” Connor confessed. “I’m not ready to deal with my dad” he sighed. 

“So? You can be out to us and not to the world if you want” Shitty suggested. He looked at Connor slyly and smirked. “Anybody you are interested in?” he asked with a wink.

Connor couldn’t contain the blush on his cheeks but he pressed his lips together tightly. “It’s cold Shitty. I’m going inside” he said as he stood up and went in the window. Shitty stayed outside with the biggest smile on his face that he had had in a long while. Connor headed for his room to lay down and he fell asleep with a smile on his face and feeling relaxed for the first time in a very long time.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that it took me almost two weeks to get this written. After the update week, I was drowning in my Zimbits feels and I needed some time to write those out (see _[Finding Our Way](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6136530)_ ). But now I'm back on this fic and we are nearing the end...it's gonna wild as we wind down this story. I hope y'all are ready :)
> 
> \- Benjji

Shitty shakes his head, highly amused as he watches Connor Stevens, Samwell Men’s Hockey Team left winger #25, climbs back into the Haus through the window, as he just became LGBTQ+ student number 25 to come out to him.  Shitty still doesn’t quite understand what it is about him that draws people to him, makes them feel safe about coming out to him, but he’s not sure that’s a mystery he’ll ever be able to solve.  Maybe though, he thinks, it’s time to take Lardo up on her offer to put “Will Affirm All Sexual Identities” on a t-shirt for him.

 

Number 25 is a pretty significant milestone though, and it’s just another thing that makes Shitty wonder if going to Harvard, becoming a lawyer, is the best choice.  Shitty still vividly remembers when Bitty came out to him and told him he should become a peer counselor.  It’s something that’s stuck with him, and as more people come forward, trusting him with what’s likely their biggest secret, the more he thinks that Bitty might be right.  Perhaps being a lawyer in the best thing for him.

 

That thought, though, is for another time.  Right now, Shitty needs to put his lawyer skills to the test and Sherlock the shit out of what’s been happening in the Haus.  Being a confidant for Jack, Bitty, and now Con puts him in an unusual position of knowing almost every side of the situation.  Scrambling through the window into his room, Shitty grabs a piece of paper and a pen and starts writing down everything he knows:

  * Jack is fucking ass over tea kettle for Bits
  * Bitty is also a fucking goner for Jack
  * On top of that, Con is also, apparently, very gay
  * Jude and Bitty’s “relationship” is a one big phony act
  * Bitty said Jude has a crush on someone, and considering Bits won’t tell him who it is, he’s pretty sure it’s someone on the team
  * Con, quite clearly, has a crush on someone too (likely also on or affiliated with the team)
  * Jude and Con were in each other’s fucking pockets prior to Winter Screw
  * Jude and Bitty’s fake relationship began at Winter Screw
  * Jude and Con have some weird tension shit going on between them that started after Winter Screw
  * Both Jack and Con are fucking sold on Jude and Bits’ fake relationship



He spends a few minutes pouring over his list, trying to connect all the dots in a way the fits the situation, and when it finally hits him, he starts cackling.  It’s ridiculous, and those boys are ridiculous, because here’s the kicker: their entire predicament is one of their own design.  Because here’s what happened:

 

_Bits and Jack are total fucking goners for each other, and clearly, so are Jude and Con.  Problem is, Jack and Con like, to the untrained eye,_ ooze _heterosexuality, so Jude and Bitty are certain they’ll never have a chance with the people they like.  Somewhere along the line, they tell each other the situation they’re in, which leads to them bonding over the boys they think they’ll never have.  And, as tends to happen when you confide a big secret in someone, Jude and Bitty grow close as platonic bros, but Ransom and Holster mistook it as romantic attraction (the misguided idiots, who will apparently read romantic context into every situation except their own, which isn’t really Shitty’s business, except for the fact that it’s fucking annoying).  In the face of likely relentless pressure from R &H to go together as Winter Screw dates (because R&H, though great bros they are, do not fucking know when enough is enough), Jude and Bitty decide to play along, despite not having any interest in such a relationship._

 

_Which is fine, that’s their prerogative he guesses, except that when Jack and Con find out that they’re apparently dating, the pinwheel starts flying apart.  When Jack found out, by assuming things when he finds out that Jude’s parents were coming to the Haus, he started completely avoiding Bitty.  Con finds out and when forced to share a room with Jude, copes with situation by ignoring the other boy.  Jude doesn’t take kindly to this, leading to an unbearable tense, explosive situation in the attic.  As Jude and Bitty struggle to understand what’s caused the sudden change in their friends, they start exclusively hanging out with each other, not wanting to deal with the other moody boys, which reinforces what Jack and Con think about Jude and Bitty’s relationship._

 

The end result is that the boys have gotten themselves caught in a negative feedback loop, entirely of their own design, and the worst part of it all is that if they don’t break out of it, they’re going to destroy their friendships, and their chances of actually getting with the person they want.  They all deserve their happiness, and so Shitty will be damned if he’s going to let this continue for any longer.

 

Unfortunately for him, the easiest solution is the one he absolutely cannot employ.  Jack refused to take action at first because he didn’t know if Bitty liked him back, and now he’s refusing to take action because he believes that Bitty is happy dating Jude.  If Shitty could go up to Jack and smack him upside the head, tell him that Jude and Bitty’s relationship is a farce, and that “Bits totally likes you brah, he told me himself!”, everything would resolve and fall into place before he could even blink.  But he promised Bitty he wouldn’t tell Jack anything, and he won’t break that promise.

 

He determines that he needs reinforcements if he’s going to come up with a foolproof, bulletproof plan.  He has his phone out, finger hovering over _Call_ when he realizes he can’t talk to who he wants to—Lardo—without outing Con in the process, without his permission.  He would rather die than do that, so he tosses his phone across the room and stuffs his notebook in his backpack, ensuring that he won’t do anything tonight, and he’ll check with Con in the morning.

* * *

 

Con is on his way out of the Haus the next morning just as Shitty is packing his car up to drive to Boston.  He quickly snags the other boy and drags him over to the car, unceremoniously shoving him into the passenger seat.

 

“Shits?” Con asks warily as Shitty climbs into the driver’s seat and closes the door.  Con’s fingers are wrapped around his door handle, and his eyes are flitting around shiftily.  He looks like he’s about to bolt any second.

 

“Brah, you need to fucking relax,” Shitty says, putting a hand on Con’s shoulder.  “I just wanted to check up on you before I left.”

 

Con’s brow furrows.  “…why?”

 

“Coming out is like, a really fucking big deal bro,” Shitty shrugs, trying to keep the tone of the conversation casual, even if his intentions are anything but.  “Sometimes people freak the fuck out after coming out for the first time.”

 

“Oh.  Well, I’m not,” Con replies, with a small, shy smile on his face.  “It feels great, honestly.”

 

“I’m glad brah,” Shitty grins and Con opens the door and starts to climb out.  “Wait a second, there’s something else I wanted to ask you.”

 

Con sighs and pulls the door shut.  “What?”

 

Shitty was planning to ask Con if he could tell Lardo by giving him some bullshit excuse about how, as team manager, it’s important for her to know these things.  But when Con looks at him, his face open and trusting, he changes his mind.  “I normally talk to Lards about the people who come out to me,” he says instead.  “Is it okay if I mention you by name, or would you rather I keep you anonymous?”

 

“Can I trust she won’t tell anyone else?” Con questions, guarded and cautious again.

 

“She’d never dream of it,” Shitty answers confidently.

 

Con is quiet for a few long seconds.  Finally, he nods slightly.  “Yeah, I guess you can tell her,” he says.  “She’ll find out eventually, and I…I guess I’m still a little scared of telling people myself so if I don’t have to tell her…that’s better I suppose.”

 

“Alright then brah,” Shitty responds happily.  Now that he has the go-ahead, he and Lardo can work to fix the fucking mess that the four boys have made of things.  “But now, get the fuck out of my car,” he continues.  “Unless you’re eager to spend a week in hell with my family.”

 

“No thanks,” Con chuckles, opening the door and stepping out.  “If I had wanted to do that, I’d be with my dad in Arizona right now.”

 

“True dat,” Shitty says, sliding his aviator shades onto his face.  “If only I were so fortunate.”

 

“Good luck man,” Con says.  “Sounds like you’ll need it to survive.”

 

_You have no idea_ , Shitty almost says, but stops himself short when he remembers the conversation he and Con had had about his dad the night before.  Con does have an idea, in fact Con maybe has it just as bad as he does.

 

“Thanks,” is what he says as Con slams the door shut.

 

Shitty pulls out his phone and this time he does press _Call_.

 

“Lards, get your fucking thinking cap on, we’ve got a shit ton work to do,” he says when she answers.

* * *

 

Jack finds himself in Faber on the morning of the 27th, planning to spend yet another day of his break on the ice, skillfully avoiding Bittle.  His meeting yesterday with the Falconers’ reps went well, and as an added bonus, he left early and got back late, so he didn’t see Bittle all day without having to try.

 

Jack slaps a puck towards the empty net, which deflects off the crossbar into the stands.  He hates that he’s had to take to avoiding one of his closest friends, but he’s not sure what else to do.  When he’s around Bittle, he’s all Jack can see.  When he’s around Bittle, the constant whirring of anxiety that fills his head calms down to a low, gentle buzz.  But now, when he’s with Bittle, he’s filled with sadness, with disappointment, because he missed his shot, his opportunity.  How is he supposed to hang around Bittle when he’s everything to him, and when he knows that it’s not the same for Bittle?

 

Jack angrily swings his stick, hitting a puck that isn’t anywhere near the goal, hitting the glass behind the net with a loud thud instead.  It’s his own fault for missing his chance.  When he first realized what Bittle was starting to mean to him, all Jack could think about was Kent.  How they had plunged in headfirst, moved too fast, burned out, and how everything they were had disintegrated to ash and slipped through their fingers.  Jack would never forgive himself if that happened with Bittle.

 

So instead, he waited.  He showed Bittle that he wasn’t the ass he presented himself as during Bittle’s freshman year, and then he waited.  He waited for Bittle to have a chance to get to know him.  He waited to see when… _IF_ Bittle developed feelings for him.  He went agonizingly slow and waited, determined to keep them from ever ending up on the same path as he and Kent did.

 

And the waiting—that’s what did Jack in.  Because while he waited, Jude had popped up, seemingly out of nowhere.  Jude, who knew pop culture, loved baking almost as much as Bittle, and wasn’t afraid to be himself.  Jude, who was everything that Jack never has been, and probably never will be.  Jude came in and swept Bittle off his feet before Jack had even realized he was a threat.  Jack let himself get lulled into thinking that he could go forever without saying a word, and that Bittle would never meet someone who made him feel all the things that Jack wanted to make him feel.  Jack had gotten his hopes up too high, and was still reeling, still falling.

 

Just as Jack whacks another puck towards the net, he hears the gentle swish of another pair of skates on the ice.  He pushes his anger away and puts on a neutral face as he turns around.  He finds Con skating towards him, his stick in one hand, and a bucket of pucks in the other.

 

“I stopped by your room to see if you wanted to practice together,” Con says, setting the pucks down next to Jack.  “When you weren’t there, I figured you were already here.”

 

Jack nods.  He and Con have been practicing together a lot over break, and Jack’s found that he’s not bad to work with.  He listens and works just as hard as Jack does, and doesn’t mind that Jack’s doesn’t talk much either.  Con is usually quiet too, but today he seems more relaxed that usual, and is chattering away the whole time, as they fall into their rhythm of drills.

 

Jack doesn’t pay much attention to what he’s saying, until he notices that Con seems to be working himself up, the tense set to his shoulders slowly returning.  Just as he’s starting to tune into what Con is going on about, Con asks:

 

“What do you think of Jude becoming the team’s manager after Lardo?” he blurts out.

 

Jack is taken aback at first by the apparent randomness of the question, but realizes that he hasn’t been listening to everything leading up to it, so it may be a question that makes perfect sense to Con to ask, so he makes sure to give him a carefully formulated response.  “I think it makes sense,” Jack says cautiously.  “He gets along with you guys well, he seems to be picking up on the game pretty well, and he’s organized in the way the team would need him to be.”

 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Con replies.

 

Still, Jack is curious as to the reason Con asked him.  “Why?” he questions.  “Do you have a problem with him?”

 

“No!  No, it’s just—” Con stops and sighs, waving his hand dismissively.  “You know what, forget I said anything.”

 

Jack is not inclined to do that.  He won’t be the captain of this team by the time Jude would become manager—he wouldn’t be on the team, period—but for now this is his team, and he’s not going to let anything that might jeopardize its stability in the future.  “Con,” Jack says in his captain’s voice, as a warning.

 

“I’m sorry Jack,” Con replies, avoiding his gaze.  “Look, I promise I don’t have much of a problem with him being manager.”

 

“Why bring it up, eh?” Jack responds pointedly.

 

Con shrugs.  “It’s nothing I want to talk about.  I’ll just—I’ll deal with him, y’know?”

 

Something about the way Con says that through gritted teeth sets Jack off.  Con and Jude were friends before Winter Screw happened.  He doesn’t understand why things have flipped so quickly.  Jude went with Bittle to Winter Screw and then…oh.  Con is from Arizona, which, while not the Deep South, is pretty conservative and—well…

 

“I-it.  I m-mean, it,” Con is stuttering as Jack whirls around and starts pushing Con over to the bench.

 

“ _Deal_ with him?” Jack barks as he forces Con to sit down.

 

“N-no, that’s not what I meant!” Con protests meekly, peering up at Jack with terror in his eyes.

 

“Look, I don’t know what you’re problem is, but if it’s at all about Jude and Bittle, we’re going to have a very big problem,” Jack spits, furious, because if that’s what this is about, then Con not only attacked Jude and Bittle, then he attacked him too.  He gets enough of that from the media on a daily basis for all kinds of reasons, and Jack’s not going to have members of his own team doing that to him.

 

“O-oh my God!” Con exclaims, eyes wide.  “ _Fuck_ it’s—it’s not because he’s gay!  That’s never been a problem—I-I swear I’m not homophobic!  I mean, I would be hating myself if I was!”

 

There’s a moment of stunned silence that follows, as they both realize what’s just been said.

 

“I…I’m sorry,” Jack exhales softly, sitting down on the bench with Con.  “I didn’t realize you were…” he trails off.

 

“Gay?” Con replies sharply, almost angrily, as he straightens up into a more defensive posture.  “You can say it.  It’s not a bad word.”

 

“ _Tabarnak_ Connor, I know it’s not!” Jack retorts.  “I didn’t want to assume in case you were bisexual or…I don’t know, I can never remember all the words Shitty throws out there.  _Crisse_ , I was just about to chew you out for being homophobic!”

 

“Oh, yeah,” Con deflates slumping over.

 

“So what I don’t get…why do you suddenly have a problem with Jude,” Jack inquires, because if it’s not because Con is homophobic, then he has no clue what’s caused their friendship to end up on the rocks.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Con says bitterly.  “I can’t doing anything about it anyway…so I’ll just…I’ll figure out how to deal with it.”

 

That tone.  Jack recognizes it.  He’s heard it coming from his own mouth whenever he’s talked about Bittle recently, which… _wow_.

 

“So…it’s not because Jude is gay, or that he’s dating someone…it’s that that someone isn’t you,” Jack blows out a quiet breath.

 

Con’s head snaps up so forcefully he almost topples off the bench.  “I—yeah, but…how’d you know?”

 

“Because…I just…it’s the same thing…for me,” Jack says, and his hands are shaking, because he’s never told anyone this before.  Shitty figured it out, Jack never had to tell him.  “I…I like him…a lot…Bittle,” Jack continues shakily.  “I…I like him so much it scares me but he…he just…”

 

“He likes someone else,” Con finishes.

 

Jack buries his head in his hands as he nods.

 

“God, it really fucking sucks, doesn’t it?  Seeing them with each other and knowing that they’re happy,” Con sighs, patting Jack’s shoulder softly.

 

“I…yeah,” Jack mumbles in agreement.  “But I…I don’t want to hurt him so there’s just…nothing I can do about it…like you said.”

 

“Yeah…” Con whispers.

 

As the quiet hum of Faber’s ventilation fans fill the air, Jack sits with Con in silence, not sure what more to say about what they’ve shared with each other.

 

“I don’t want to stop being friends with Jude,” Con says after a few minutes.  “I just…I don’t know how to talk to him now.”

 

“They’re still the same people they were before,” Jack replies unconvincingly.  Maybe Bittle and Jude are the same, but he and Con aren’t because of what they know.  And that makes it painful, to talk to him, knowing that what he wants, Bittle already has.  Jack knows that’s how it is for Con too.

 

“Yeah.  I guess though…just because it’s hard…that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to still be friends with them, right?”

 

“You’re right Con,” Jack says, lifting his hand out of his hands.  “ _Merde_ , you’re so right man.”

 

He shakes his head at himself, because why in the world should he give up the best friendships he’s ever had simply because it won’t be more, won’t ever be what Jack wants it to be?  That would be a major dick move, and would probably count as the second-most stupid thing he’s ever done, right after taking prescription painkillers to calm his anxiety, and getting addicted in the process.  He can’t be a dick like that to Bittle again, so he has to try to still be friends with him, for Bittle, and for himself too.

 

“I’ll try if you promise you’ll try too,” Jack says, offering his hand to Con.

 

“I…okay,” Con answers, taking his hand and shaking it firmly.  “Yeah, I can do that.

 

“Well…” Jack starts, standing up.  “Let’s clean up here and then…we’ll go give it a shot.”

* * *

 

When they get back to the Haus, Jude and Bittle are in the kitchen, like Jack expected they would be.  They don’t notice him at first, and Jack pauses in the doorway.  He feels Con poke him in the back, and so he takes a deep breath and walks in.

 

“Take it easy Bittle, you’re going to kill my diet plan, eh?” he says, a corner of his mouth turning upward in a smirk as he gently chirps the other boy.

 

Bittle jumps a half foot in the air.  “Jack!” he exclaims, clutching his heart.  “ _Good Lord_ , you scared me!”

 

“Sorry,” Jack chuckles, sitting down at the table across from Jude, who’s eyeing him suspiciously.  “But the Haus isn’t full, there’s no way the four of us will be able to keep up with your normal baking pace.”

 

“Jack Laurent Zimmermann, do not blaspheme!” Bittle says indignantly, waggling a wooden spoon at him.  “How dare you imply I cut back on my bakin’, your diet plan be damned!”

 

Jack raises an eyebrow, ready to chirp Bittle back, when Con steps into the kitchen.  “H-hey Jude?” he stutters nervously.

 

It’s comical how quickly Jude’s head whips around.  “Connor?” he asks cautiously.

 

“I just…I was thinking that I was going to like…I don’t know, play MarioKart or something,” Con mumbles, pausing to clear his throat.  “Would…did you want to play?”

 

Jack watches as Jude and Bittle share a look.  Bittle gives Jude an encouraging smile, subtly quirking his head towards Con.

 

“Okay, yeah,” Jude says, grinning, and the tension in Con’s shoulders disappears as he grins back.

 

“Race you upstairs,” Con says, already starting to laugh as he takes off.

 

“Hey!” Jude shouts, vanishing around the corner as he scrambles after him.

 

“Well, I ain’t sure what you said to him,” Bittle says, smiling softly.  “But Con not talkin’ to him has been tearin’ Jude up, so…y’know, thanks.”

 

“It’s…no problem,” Jack says, fighting off the urge to turn tail and run from the kitchen.  It’s hard to hear Bittle’s quiet, fond tone when Jack knows it doesn’t mean what he wants it too, but he’s not going to run from it.  He’ll just…have to get used to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Connor's line where he tells Jack he can say the word gay because it's not a bad word was originally Jude's line, but needed it here lol :)


	10. Chapter 10

“Lards, get your fucking thinking cap on, we’ve got a shit ton work to do,” he says when she answers.

Shitty hears Lardo groaning on the other end of the call. “Brah…seriously? I was asleep” she mutters.

Shitty laughs and gets a grin before yelling into the phone “WAKE UP!!!” at the top of his lungs. He laughs again as he hears her swearing through the phone. While he appreciates the sanctity of the nap, this is more important.

“Damn it Shits!” she growls when she comes back to the phone after quite a lot of background noise causing him to wonder if she fell off the bed. “What is so damn important it couldn’t wait till I was fully conscious?”

“I got deets!” Shitty says proudly. “The Haus has been insane this break but the final piece of the puzzle has been revealed!” he crows.

“What the hell are you babbling about?” Lardo is quickly losing patience.

“You arranged for Jude to stay in the Haus for the break?” he asks.

“Of course” this better get better quickly she thinks.

“And Ransom offered to allow Connor to stay as well?” he adds.

“Wait…what?” that was new information. Lardo had to leave campus a bit early as her dad was seeing the doctor for his condition and she wanted to be there. She hadn’t been very active with Samwell people over the break to be honest what with the Duan family issues that had exploded among the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and great grandmother.

“Then Jack ended up staying because of talking to agents and Bitty decided to stay to take care of everyone and I stayed until today” Shitty finished.

Larissa stood up trying to put all this information into a pattern that would make sense. “So where did Jude and Connor…they stayed together in the attic?” she reasoned out.

“Yep” Shitty confirmed. “Then for Christmas dinner, Jude’s family all came to Boston so Bitty invited them to the Haus along with all of us and Jack’s parents as well.”

Larissa sat back down. “Whoa” she muttered.

“Whoa is right. And the days before the dinner. Can you say awkward and uncomfortable? How about tense? How about strained?” Shitty was on a roll. “So dinner was crazy…did I mention that we found out that Con’s dad is Adam Stevens from the Diamondbacks?”

“Seriously?” Larissa was surprised as that had never come up before. This was a whole lot of information flying at her.

“Oh yes. He and Jack have seriously bonded over the break over that as well as their emotional issues” Shitty teased.

“Does this have anything to do with Winter Screw?” Larissa asked slowly. She had noticed that there was a lot of tension after the dance though besides the normal Jack/Bitty dynamic, she hadn’t figured out why.

“Well that’s where it gets interesting” Shitty said and she could hear the smirk on his face. “Yesterday, I was out on the reading room when Con came out to talk and he came out to me.”

There was a moment of silence. “Connor’s gay?” Larissa asked disbelievingly. “And you are telling me?” she continued.

“I have permission to tell you from Con” Shitty quickly reassured her. “He is nervous about telling people and it getting out because of his dad but I assured him you wouldn’t say anything.”

Larissa sat quietly after he spoke and Shitty just waited. The two of them had always felt comfortable sitting in silence without feeling awkward or uncomfortable so she felt okay as she considered what he said.

Shitty heard her groan. “You have got to be kidding me” she wailed. “Tell me I’ve got this wrong!” she pleaded.

“Probably not” Shitty said smirking, proud of how much faster she was in figuring it out than he was.

“Jack and Bitty are both pining for each other thinking the other one isn’t interested” she says slowly.

“Yep” Shitty nods.

“Jude and Connor are doing the same, aren’t they?” she asks sadly, already knowing the answer.

“Most probably, though to be fair I don’t have total confirmation on that one” he tells her sympathetically.

“You’re joking right? They were two peas in a pod before Screw but Jude goes with Bitty and suddenly they can’t be around each other…oh my god it’s the same deal” she groans. Suddenly he hears her groan even louder. “This is unreal! The two out guys are into two guys, who they think are straight and not interested in them, but who are in reality neither straight nor uninterested and instead pretend to date each other to get Ransom & Holster to leave them alone. But the guys they like, who secretly like them back, totally buy the lie and are devastated because they lost their chance, and now Jude and Bitty don’t know why they are so mad which makes them mad. Have I pretty much got it?” Larissa concludes.

“Yep” Shitty says with a smile. “So, how are we going to fix this?” he asks and Larissa flops back on the bed, hand over her eyes, trying to decide who to kill: the boys pretending to date, the boys pretending to be straight, or the boys who caused all this because they were too focused on other people’s dating situation! Right now it was too close to call but Ransom and Holster were definitely in the lead for who should get their heads handed to them when she got back.

“Lord Shits, this is insane” she finally admitted. “You can’t just sit them all down and tell them because you promised. And…damn it!” Larissa shook her head at the sheer crappiness of it all.

“Luckily we have some time as Jack and Con have started to try and act normally around the boys for now so we may have bought ourselves some time. Think some over break and we will plan it all out when we get back” he tells her.

Hanging up Larissa sits up and then plants her face in her hands. Sitting with Jude and asking him about his dating of Bitty had made it clear that there really was someone else. He was crushing! She was sure he had a thing for someone and she was fairly certain that it was Connor. But she had watched Connor and had bought his straight boy façade much to her own dismay at not being more tuned in. To be fair, she hadn’t been around Con as long as she had known Jack and it took a long time before she could read his feelings. Shits was certain he had feelings for Eric freshman year but she hadn’t seen it till this year. But now that she knew that Connor was in fact gay, she was sure he was definitely crushing on Jude. “Boys!” she moaned. They were going to be the death of her.

* * *

Larissa walked into the Haus after getting back to Samwell and hoped that her and Shits could do something about the nearly constant headache that this situation had caused. Shits wasn’t due back till tomorrow, but she decided to come to the Haus to get the vibe of the place.

Walking in to the kitchen she smelled the wonderful aroma that now defined the Haus. She was surprised at how quickly everyone had gotten used to the change. Instead of the smell of stale beer, a slight hint of puke, and the pervasive scent of boy's locker room, the Haus now smelled of sweetness and mouth-watering goodness. Right now the smell was of chocolate, coconut, vanilla, and she thought it might be ginger?

Looking at the small blonde moving around she saw the counters covered in cookies and smiled. “Bitty!” she said loudly to catch his attention as he was dancing around and singing along to Mariah Carey’s ‘All I want for Christmas’. He started and turned around. “Christmas songs after the holiday?” she teased him as he came over for a hug.

“Hey no chirping me about that!” Eric replied with a frown. “It is totally acceptable for a week after New Year’s!” he informs her loftily.

“Where’d you get that rule” she narrows her eyes at him but he can still see the smile barely restrained.

“Bittle House Rules” he informs her. “My kitchen…my rules!” He laughs and puts a giant plate of cookies in front of her and yep, ginger snaps, chocolate chip, and coconut macaroons!

Eric sits down across from Larissa and he asks about her break and she tells him of some of the drama and then looks at him carefully. “And how was the break with a full Haus?” she asks knowingly.

Eric sighs. “It was…hard to describe” he finally says. “The start of the break was tough. Everyone was really stressed and things were…complicated” he told her. “It was more difficult than I expected. Everyone was pretty much not talking to each other except for Jude and I and that was mostly talking about how uncomfortable things were. Then Jude’s family came, all seven of them, plus Bad Bob and Alicia, who Jack only told me about the day before I might add, and all five of us. It was very interesting” he says with a slight smile.

“Really” Lardo smirks.

“Did you know Jude has two moms? They are a lesbian couple who adopted him when he was 13. In fact they adopted four kids in addition to Stef’s biological son from her first marriage. They were really great. Then Stef’s mom came too and she is a riot! Never laughed so hard before and of course Stef and Jesus were fangirling over Bad Bob and then finding out that Connor’s dad was Adam Stevens!” Eric took a big breath and Lardo just giggled.

“Then Alicia and Lena were helping in the kitchen and it was so sweet how nice they were. The only problem really was that everyone in the Haus was stressed, but everyone behaved” Eric finished.

“Stressed” Lardo asked with a raised eyebrow. Eric shook his head at how much she could communicate with a single look or word.

He sighed again. “Jack was acting all…strange. He pretty much avoided me till the end of break and I don’t know what was wrong. Then Connor and Jude were not talking half the time which was killing Jude. Shitty was dealing with his family so he was freaking out whenever he talked with them. One good thing was that Jack and Connor seemed to bond and were getting along. After dinner things started getting better but I just don’t understand why it was bad in the first place” he sighed again.

Larissa looked at him in sympathy and had to hold inside that she wanted to just tell him that he was being an idiot but she was more than convinced that even if she outright told him that Jack was totally in love with him, he wouldn’t believe her.

“Well, whatever the reason, it sounds like the issues have been resolved somehow. Maybe you should just be happy about that?” she suggested kindly.

He nodded and they went back to planning for the upcoming semester. Larissa decided to stay for dinner and was there when Holster and Ransom arrived back at the Haus, Jude and Connor having moved back to their dorm rooms the day before, but they did come for dinner. The dinner was really nice and most of the conversation was about her, Ransom, and Holster talking about their holidays with an occasional update on Jack’s meetings with teams.

By the time she had got back to her apartment she smiled as she had the beginnings of a plan. Since they were the source of this problem, she was going to use Ransom and Holster to fix it. She just needed to figure out how to get them to do what she wanted without them realizing it because if she just told them, they would totally screw it up. Seriously, neither one of them understands the word subtle! But if they could push Bitty just the right way, and to do that she would need Shitty to help plan, she was sure she could get Eric and Jude to confess that their “relationship” was never real. They needed to admit the truth, not say that they just broke up. She smiled to herself and rubbed her hands together…this was going to be fun!

* * *

The semester started off well, the team was playing really well and the tension in the house was back to normal levels. Shitty and Lardo had been discussing different options but had not managed to finalize their plan. They had a great deal laid out, but they still needed the right trigger.

Jude and Eric were still pretending to date, though very casually and never in a formal way though Larissa wasn’t sure if people noticed. They went for coffee together but that was about it. How anyone thought they were actually dating was beyond her understanding, I mean Bitty was hanging out with Jack more than he was Jude.

She was walking back from a meeting with the Coaches about the plan for Family Weekend and their home game that night. They had asked her to find out which players’ families would be attending this year when she walked up the stairs to hear a commotion. 

“I’m serious boys, ya’ll need to stop this now” she heard Eric say, exasperation clear in his voice.

Walking into the kitchen she found Bitty cooking, what else, with Ransom and Holster sitting at the table, the obvious objects of Bitty’s tirade.

“Bitty, relationships take work” Holster said sincerely. “If you don’t take the proper time and care, they can wither.”

“Yeah bro” Ransom adds. “You need to make sure to pay attention to your boy beyond coffee and pies!” 

Larissa smirks at the eye roll she sees Bitty make where the boys can’t see and repressed the chuckle she wants to let out. “Not to interrupt boys” Larissa says clearing her throat “but coaches want to know whose family is coming to Family Weekend this year.” She looks at the three of them looking back at her, faces blank. “This requires a response” she says drolly.

“Oh!” Eric seems to shake and wake up. “Coach and mama are coming” he tells her.

“Your dad is coming?” Holster asks surprised. “Finally we get to meet the famous Coach!” he turned back to Lardo “Sorry but my folks won’t be coming this year” he adds.

“Yeah me either” Ransom adds. 

“Cool…you boys ready to get your asses kicked at MarioKart?” she asks them and smirks at the gleam in their eyes. They jump up and race to the couch and she turns to Bitty. “I’ll keep ‘em busy for a while and give you a break” she says grabbing one of the cookies off the table and holding back her laughter at the relieved look on Bitty’s face as she leaves.

Walking to the couch she makes both boys sit on the floor while she takes the couch as they start playing. They play several games when inspiration hits her like a bomb going off and she gets a wicked grin.

“So…Bitty’s family is coming for the Weekend, huh?” she muttered loud enough for the two to hear.

“Yeah” Ransom grunts.

“Cool to meet his dad finally” Holster adds.

“Yeah” she agrees and waits for a few minutes before adding “Interesting timing though.”

She continues to play and notices the frowns both boys get as they try to figure out her meaning. She see the moment when they turn to look at each other to see if the other boy had figured it out and uses their distraction to beat them again.

“Damn it!” Ransom shrieks when he realizes she won again. “What do you mean about timing?” he turns to ask her, still mad about the loss.

“Oh…I guess it’s really not anything, I mean…no, I must be reading more into it is all. Just ignore me” she says making sure that she looks very uncertain to them. 

The two of them look at each other thoughtfully before Holster pauses the game and turns toward her. “Lardo? What are you thinking?” he asks her carefully.

“Well…I’m probably all wrong about this and shouldn’t say anything” she sounds like she is trying to avoid answering.

“Let’s us judge that bro” Ransom says reassuringly. Holster nods encouragingly.

“Well…it just seems like Jude’s family came for dinner over break and got to meet Bitty and now Bitty’s parents are coming, together, for the first time…” she trailed off.

“Bitty’s going to introduce Jude to his parents!” Ransom whisper-squealed and grabbed at Holster who was bouncing with excitement.

“Hold on!” Larissa said quickly and forcefully. They both turned to her surprised. “We don’t know that. I mean Bitty isn’t even out to his parents and we don’t know if there will even be a chance for them to meet Jude” she warns them.

They both suddenly look sobered by that. “She’s right” Ransom mutters.

“Last couple of times there has barely been time for anyone to see families” Holster agrees.

“Let’s wait” she tells them. “If it is a meet and greet, even if his parents don’t know, then Bitty will have to plan something. If he does, then we know” they nod in agreement with her and she unpauses the game and they continue.

* * *

Several days later she and Shitty are talking in the kitchen while Eric is baking a pie and he smiles at her.

“So how many parents are coming to Family Weekend this year?” Shitty asks Lardo, as planned.

“Well, we have Eric’s, Nursey’s, Dex’s brother and sister are coming with their mom, Ollie’s parents, Wick’s sister, Jones’ dad, Mitchell’s mom, and another four or five ‘maybes’” Lardo says looking at her clipboard.

“That’s cool” Shitty replies. “Jack’s and mine aren’t coming because we have Graduation not too long after” he mumbles. “You know…it’s kind of sad that we never do anything to kind of get the hockey families together” he said curiously.

“Well, we could do something, but planning out something is tough and to be honest, normally we wouldn’t want to subject parents to the Haus and what would we do? A Kegster?” she snorts.

“No” Shitty laughs “I was thinking more like a dinner…not formal or anything, but more like a potluck or picnic thing.”

“Right” Lardo’s voice clearly displays her disbelief. “We could do all that when we have a home game? Don’t think so” she shakes her head.

“We could definitely do that!” Eric said turning around excited. “I can prepare a dinner for the night before our game with picnic foods that would hold. We could invite all the team and any visiting family to the Haus to meet everyone!” He was obviously excited.

“Are you sure Bits?” Shitty said looking doubtful. “That’s a lot of food and planning” he said frowning.

“Planning a party? Pshaw!” Eric scoffed. “That’s nothing. I would be embarrassed if I couldn’t pull that together without a doubt!”

“That would be really amazing” Lardo said looking thoughtful. “But before we commit, let’s run it by the gang tonight? Bunch of guys are coming over tonight for Ransom & Holster’s game tourney so can get everyone’s opinion.” 

They all agreed and Bitty went back to his pie so he missed the triumphant look and silent fist bump that Shitty & Lardo exchanged.

* * *

Later that night the Haus is fairly full. The frogs have all come over including Jude as well as many of their teammates. Ransom & Holster are desperately trying to keep control but Shitty keeps shouting to ‘fight the system’ and other slogans, much to the amusement of everyone. Jack is sitting on the stairs trying not to laugh when Lardo walks into the kitchen and finds Bitty pulling out another tray of mini pies.

“Hey bro” she says casually. “Did you want to still ask about doing a dinner for the families?”

“Yes!” Bitty says with a huge smile. “This is going to be so great! I have been working on menu ideas, decorations, and how to handle the seating. It will be so great” Lardo smiles at his rambling as they walk back into the family room where Shitty has managed to sit on top of Holster while Dex and Nursey have pinned Ransom down as Shitty is calling for new rules for the game. 

Shitty casts a quick look over at Lardo and she sees his eyes twinkle, it’s time. “Let’s ask our esteemed manager to rule on this issue” he calls out suddenly and the group turns toward her.

Lardo waves her hand “Doesn’t matter dudes, you’re still going down…but we have a more important matter to discuss as a team” she said suddenly sounding serious. She turns to Bitty and gestures. “Tell them your idea Bits” she instructs.

“Right” he clears his throat a bit nervously. “Since so many family members will be here for Family Weekend, I was thinking we could host a family dinner at the Haus for everyone to come and meet each other’s family” he says with a smile. “I have been working on everything: menu, decorations, and it’ll be amazing! I mean, both of my parents will be here and I would love for them to meet all of you” he says with a huge smile while looking at all of his teammates.

Everyone smiles and seems to be interested in the idea and starts talking about it, but the reaction that surprised Eric most was the look of shock on Jack’s face. Why did he look almost sick? Was it because his parents wouldn’t be able to attend?

Shitty smiled. “That sounds really nice Bits” he said standing up with a smile. “Anyone have any concerns? It wouldn’t be mandatory, right? Just if they want to come?” he asks to clarify.

“Oh, of course not” Eric says happily. “I mean if you already have plans, that’s definitely not a problem. I just thought that since we all probably talk about each other, it might be fun for our family to meet our teammates even if it’s just for a few minutes” he assures them and looking over the crowd he is stuck again at Jude and Connor. Jude is smiling gently but Connor looks so…sad?

Larissa takes the opportunity to look down at Ransom and Holster from her position just behind Bitty and raises her eyebrows at them. She can pinpoint the exact moment when they get her message. Their eyes light up and Ransom squeals and jumps up knocking over Dex and Nursey as he grabs Bitty in a giant hug right before Holster joins them.

“Boys!” Eric says laughing at the guys’ exuberance. “You are way too excited for two boys whose families are not even coming” he laughs.

“We are SO SWAWESOME!” Holster hollers as he high fives Ransom. 

“We are the Matchmakers Extraordinaire!” Ransom crows.

Bitty, along with many others in the room, looks thoroughly confused. However Ransom and Holster are ignoring him, too busy congratulating themselves and dancing around like fools.

“What are you two goofs going on about?” Bitty says laughing at them.

“You and Jude!” Holster says happily. He doesn’t notice how Eric and Jude both freeze up but Lardo does and she checks to confirm that she is seeing similar reactions on Jack and Con’s faces.

“Me and…and Jude?” Bitty stammers. “What do we…” he trails off not sure what to say next. He looks over at the tall brunette but he looks as thoroughly confused as Bitty feels.

“Oh, come on Bitty!” Ransom says dancing around. “You met Jude’s family over the break and now he’s going to meet yours at this party you are throwing! And it’s all thanks to our amazing matchmaking abilities. Admit it, we are the best bros ever for connecting you two!”

Shitty was watching Jack’s face which had gone pale and was stuck in a mask of control that didn’t quite hide the pain in his eyes. Connor was looking down at his feet, his unhappiness just as clear if you were watching for it. Larissa had been watching and saw Jude go pale and tremble while Bitty was speechless. Bitty kept looking between the two guys who were high fiving others offering to find people true love for them though most guys were shoving them away.

That didn’t stop Ransom and Holster from going on and on about it, trying to get anyone else to take them up on their offer to find dates for their teammates. Suddenly Ransom turned and, with a huge grin, asked Jude and Bitty to be their success story for their new “Love Brokers” jobs. Larissa was watching Eric’s eyes darting around to everyone, terror clear but he couldn’t find an escape. She caught Shitty’s eye and gave the signal. Time to up the pressure.

“QUIET! Guys, hold on for a second!” Shitty suddenly yelled out causing everyone to suddenly go quiet. “In case you forgot, our bro Bitty isn’t exactly out to his family yet, remember? You boys need to knock it off” he tells them. Larissa sees a moment of relief and gratitude on Bitty’s face and feels bad because she knows it won’t last.

Ransom and Holster both suddenly look guilty and look back at Eric in sympathy before they suddenly look at each other and grin. “Don’t worry Bits! We’ve got a plan” Ransom says grabbing Bitty into a hug.

“Yeah” Holster assures him. “Your parents don’t have to know they are meeting your boyfriend. We will run interference so that they can meet Jude and you can show him off without it being obvious!” He is getting worked up. “We can talk about how cool he is and how he is helping the team and Lardo out!”

“Yeah” Ransom adds with enthusiasm. “We will make sure your parents absolutely love Jude so when they finally learn about it, they will know you got yourself a great guy!” He looks over at Jude and smiles confidently.

The two of them start asking the others to agree to help them in talking up Jude to Bitty’s parents, without being obvious about it of course. They start coming up with more and more elaborate schemes that leave reality far behind but they are on a roll and completely unstoppable. Lardo is watching them all carefully, waiting for it, that moment. Shitty has moved closer to the stairs and she sees him watching Jack carefully, but he hasn’t said anything that she can tell. Jude has sat down and looks sick as Chowder is talking to him, waving his hands in excitement.

Dex and Nursey join in on the excitement offering suggestions for “The Plan” when, finally, Larissa sees it. The exact moment that Eric finally snaps. She has been watching it build up and up but he had managed to hold it all inside, pushing down on his words and she wondered if this would even be enough until Holster made a teasing comment about him and Ransom being the best men at their wedding when it happens.

“WE AREN’T DATING!!” Eric screams at the top of his lungs.

The room goes quiet and everyone is staring at him in shock. Jack jerks his head up and Ransom and Holster look confused.

“What do you mean you aren’t dating?” Ransom whines.

“Jude and I aren’t dating” Eric yells again, not as loud as before, but still very loud.

“Oh my god!” Holster wails. “You broke up!? Why? Why didn’t you tell us?” he sounds heartbroken.

“We were never dating” Bitty confesses a lot quieter now that he realizes everyone is staring at him.

“What?....what do you mean?” he hears Chowder ask from across the room into the stunned silence.

Eric looks at Ransom and Holster but his anger has him a grip he can’t escape from. “We were never dating! You guys were hounding Jude and me about Winter Screw every day, never letting up. Going on and on about it and it was too much. We never wanted to date but you two wouldn’t stop!” Bitty feels his throat closing as his heart is pounding so hard in his chest that he thinks that everyone must be able to hear it.

Looking around the room he sees their faces: confusion clear on their faces until he sees the sympathy and understanding on Lardo and Shitty’s faces. Those kind looks almost break him. “We only decided to pretend to date to get ya’ll to stop” he admits, the bitterness clear to everyone in the room. Larissa saw the glistening in his eyes start and realized that this was not what they hoped for.

“But you were going out before the Screw” Ransom whispers in a voice, sad and scared.

“No we weren’t!” Bitty couldn’t hold it back, the tears ran down his face as he cried in frustration. “Jude was being my friend! Someone who understands how hard it is when you can’t…when you feel…” he sniffed cutting himself off. He had totally lost control and if he didn’t do something he was going to humiliate himself in front of them. “You just don’t know…”

The back of his hand was rough on him as Eric dragged it across his eyes trying to clear his vision as he turned, sniffling loudly, and stumbled for the door. He heard a voice call out “Bitty!” but he didn’t stop long enough to figure out who it was. He couldn’t go to his room and his haven, the place he had always felt safe…his kitchen…wasn’t. The door opened as he pushed into the night, the cold air cutting through him and making the tears on his cheeks burn like ice as he fled into the darkness that quickly swallowed him.


	11. Chapter 11

Jack is absolutely stunned.  Bittle was always so…calm wasn’t the right word, but he was always so… _collected_.  He only ever yelled when he was excited, and he didn’t cry unless he was overwhelmed in a good way, or really physically hurt.  In fact, the only time Jack had heard him yell was after the first time Jack came at him in their checking practices, and the only time he’d seen him cry was on the loading dock after the coaches had told him he might get cut.

 

Bittle had just been pushed too far.

 

“What the _hell_ did you think you were doing?” Jack barks, spinning around and advancing menacingly on Ransom and Holster, the ones responsible for bringing Bittle to his breaking point.

 

“Jack bro, I swear we weren’t trying to upset him!” Holster says, throwing his hands up defensively, and Jack can see the fear flashing across Holster’s eyes.  He’s probably way too angry about this, if Holster is afraid, but Bittle didn’t deserve the pressure they put him under, to be pushed to the point where he got angry and upset.

 

“Yeah, we just wanted to help,” Ransom adds weakly, and he’s trying to position himself so that Holster is between him and Jack, using the other boy’s larger frame to shield himself slash hide from Jack.

 

“Bittle made it _very_ clear that he wasn’t interested in having Jude meet his parents.  What part of that translated to ‘continue to pressure him into it’ for you?” Jack growls, fighting a strong urge to smack both d-men silly.

 

“We didn’t realize—”

 

“No, of course you didn’t!” Jack snaps, and he’s practically shouting in Holster’s face, and despite the fact that Holster has nearly four inches on him, it feels like he’s much smaller as he cowers in the face of Jack’s fury.

 

“That’s exactly the problem!” Jack continues on.  “You two both push and pressure, but you don’t know where the line is!  You _always_ go too far, and I’ve had enough of it!  I don’t want you doing this _ever_ again!  You don’t get to mess with other people’s romantic affairs if you can’t figure out how to do it without crossing the line!”

 

“But—”

 

“No, there isn’t a ‘but’,” Jack retorts angrily.  “You’re banned.  Period.”

 

“Okay,” the both reply quietly, slinking away in defeat when Jack turns around to face the rest of the room that’s been watching on in shock.

 

“That should be rule for all you too,” Jack says, calmer this time.  While a few others in the room certainly deserve some ire for taking part in pushing Bittle so hard, Ransom and Holster earned the majority of the heat for being the instigators.  “Shitty, remind me to get that in the bylaws.”

 

“Yeah brah, of course, that’s great but…you might want to hold off on that for just a hot second,” Shitty answers, putting a hand on Jack’s shoulder and guiding him to the foyer.

 

“Why should it wait?” Jack quips, stopping and turning to face Shitty.  “Bittle isn’t here, but we still have a majority of the Haus here, we could—”

 

“No, it’s not about that,” Shitty sighs and shakes his head.  “It’s because I’m going to give you some romantic advice right now brah.”

 

“Oh you are?” Jack challenges, glaring at Shitty threateningly.

 

But Shitty is used to it by now and doesn’t flinch.  “Yep,” Shitty nods.  “Bits just ran out into the night, crying and upset, and brah, I’m thinking that now might be your chance, if you get what I mean.”

 

“Bittle,” Jack whispers, his face falling and his heart clenching.  _Merde_ , he’s an idiot!  Bittle needed someone to go be with him right away!  Instead he started chewed out Ransom and Holster, something that could’ve very easily waited until later.

 

“There’s not a moment to lose Jay-Z,” Shitty urges, giving Jack a gentle shove towards the door.

 

He doesn’t need to be told twice, bolting out the door into the biting evening air.  He can only guess at where Bittle might have gone, but his gut tells him to take a right at the sidewalk in front of the Haus.  So he does, taking off at a dead sprint through the cold darkness, only the moon and streetlights illuminating his path.

 

It’s not cold by Jack’s Canadian standards, but it’s still winter in Massachusetts, and Bittle still hasn’t adapted to it.  He ran from the Haus in nothing but a short sleeve t-shirt, and he has to be freezing.  And even if he isn’t yet, given enough time, he certainly will be, as hypothermia is an ever-present danger in the dead of winter.

 

 _“Tabarnak,”_ Jack swears, his breaths exploding into puffs of mist.  The thought of Bittle caught out in this, curled up, shivering on a bench somewhere on campus is enough to will Jack’s legs to run faster.  Faber begins to loom off in the distance, and dear God, Jack hopes that’s where Bittle is, because otherwise he’s in for a long night of frantic searching and crippling worry.

 

Jack goes barreling into Faber, running through the locker room out onto the ice, sliding in his tennis shoes out to center ice.  Faber is shrouded in shadow, the only source of light being the moon shining through the giant picture windows overlooking the ice.  Jack can’t see anyone here, and his chest tightens painfully.

 

Jack slowly walks back towards the boards, resigned to the fact that Bittle’s not anywhere in Faber, when he hears faint sniffling and a quiet _“Lord”_ just to his left, coming from the area of Samwell’s bench.

 

Jack walks over, and he can see Bittle now, where before he was hidden by the reflection of the moon on the glass in front of the bench.  Bittle is curled up into a small ball, shaking gently as he cries into his knees, and Jack feels furious with Ransom and Holster all over again for reducing Bittle to this state.

 

Jack takes a deep breath, pushing that feeling to the side as he steps up to Bittle and squats down in front of his small, tightly compacted figure.

 

“Bittle,” Jack says softly, putting a hand on the other boy’s knee and jostling him gently.

 

Bittle jolts, and his head snaps up.  “Oh!” he squeaks in surprise.  “Oh my goodness, Jack!  Oh _Lord_ you scared me!”

 

Bittle’s face is poorly lit, but even in the relative darkness, Jack can see the full effect of his crying.  Bittle is…well, he’s what you would likely call an ugly crier.  Not that Jack agrees; he’d go with _messy_ over _ugly_ , because he’s not sure it’s possible for Bittle to look ugly, no matter his emotional state.  But his eyes are red and bloodshot, still glistening as tears continue to fall from his lashes onto his scarlet and splotchy cheeks.

 

“Oh Bittle,” Jack murmurs, feeling overwhelmed by a want to gather Bittle up into his arms and hug him tightly until he stops crying.

 

“I’m sorry that you’re havin’ to see me like this,” Bittle sniffles, dabbing at his eyes, but it does nothing to stop the steady stream of tears coming from his eyes.

 

So Jack just goes for it.  He tugs on Bittle’s knee, pulling it from his chest and using his freed-up arm to pull him into an embrace. 

 

“Don’t be sorry,” Jack whispers, his hand involuntarily making small circles up and down Bittle’s back.

 

Bittle is stiff at first, but the longer Jack holds him, the more he melts into it, crying softly into Jack’s sweatshirt.  Jack hates that Bittle is so upset, and he wishes there was something he could do to make him feel better, to ensure that he’ll never feel like this again.

 

As Bittle’s tears stop and his shaking turns to shivering, Jack releases him and pulls the sweatshirt up over his head, forcing it on Bittle despite his muffled protests.

 

“Oh no, I can’t,” Bittle frowns as his head pops out above the collar.  “I don’t want you bein’ cold.”

 

Bittle is swimming in the sweater, and Jack might find that, along with Bittle’s sweater paws unbearably cute, and so maybe he ruffles Bittle’s hair before he shrugs and gingerly sits down on the bench next to him.  “I’m Canadian.”

 

Bittle’s brown eyes are wide as he stutters.  “I…y-yeah, of course.  H-how silly of me to forget.”

 

“Are you okay?” Jack asks before silence can settle over them and suffocate him.  It’s not the smartest question to pose, considering the situation, but he needed to say something.

 

“Oh there’s no need to be makin’ a fuss over me,” Bittle replies dismissively as he starts to curl back up into himself.

 

“Bittle,” Jack tries to interrupts, but Bittle continues to talk.

 

“You look outta breath, did you run all the way here just to find me?  I mean, I was probably a little cold, but I woulda survived if you had just walked instead—”

 

“Bitty!” Jack says, because _damn it_ , he did not sprint across campus for Bitty to worry about him.  Not to mention that the way Bitty continually deflects attention away from his own problems is unhealthy.

 

Bitty goes silent and looks up at Jack with his eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open.

 

“You ran from the Haus in tears and you’ve been sitting here crying,” Jack sighs.  “Of course I ran, but that’s not important.  I’m the last person you need to be worrying about right now.  _Jesus_ Bitty, please just worry about yourself for once!”

 

There’s a long pause, and the sound of the ventilation fans filling the silence feels like a dull roar in Jack’s ears.

 

“You called me Bitty,” Bitty responds, his voice quiet, but immediately drowning out the white noise and static filling Jack’s brain.  He swallows, looking down at his hands as his cheeks start to turn pink.  He hadn’t exactly meant for it to slip out, still caught in his long habit of using _Bittle_ as a way to keep emotional distance.  But the reason he’s here, and not anyone else, is to take his shot with Bitty.  There’s no point to keeping it up any more.

 

“Bitty is your nickname, isn’t it?” Jack mumbles, wringing his hands anxiously.

 

 _“This boy,”_ Bitty mutters under his breath, rolling his eyes fondly.  “Well of course it is sweetheart, I just don’t think I’ve ever heard you use it before.”

 

“I—no, you haven’t,” Jack replies, because the only time he ever had before, Bitty wasn’t close enough to hear him, sprawled out on the ice behind the net, his helmet skittering uselessly away.

 

“Jack, can I ask you somethin’?”

 

“Sure,” Jack shrugs, because he’ll take any opportunity he gets to stall, because telling Bitty about his feelings is difficult and scary.

 

“Why are you here?”

 

Jack frowns.  “What?”

 

“Why are you here and not Lardo or Shitty or Jude?” Bitty questions, glancing over at Jack with a strange look on his face.

 

“I—did you want them here instead of me?” Jack responds, his brow furrowing and his frown growing.  Obviously, Bitty didn’t want him here.  Why else would he ask that question?

 

“What?  No!  I just—I didn’t expect you, is all!” Bitty quickly answers, sounding almost panicked.  “I promise I want you here!  It’s just—this ain’t what you normally do.”

 

Jack exhales shakily in relief.  “Well you know…someone running from the Haus in tears…that isn’t very normal,” he counters weakly.

 

“But…even so…emotional situations still ain’t your thing,” Bitty points out.  And it’s true.  He wouldn’t ever do this for another teammate.  But Bitty…

 

“It’s different with you,” Jack murmurs, and his face feels like it’s on fire, because now he’s baring his heart and soul to Bitty.  “I…I’m not very good…you know, at dealing with that but…I want to be there…for _you_ …when you need someone.”

 

Bitty glances up, and his faces shows something that appears to be a mix of both shock, and maybe excitement, but it quickly fades away to something more like disappointment.  “That’s awful kind of you to say Jack,” he says, and it sounds empty, almost sad.

 

It’s—well, it’s not how Jack expected Bitty to react to him essentially telling him his feelings outright.  But it doesn’t feel like he’s being rejected.  It feels more like Bitty is tempering what he expects from Jack, like…like he doesn’t realize the true _depth_ of what Jack’s words are saying.  This honestly, shouldn’t be surprising to Jack, because he’s always been terrible with words.

 

He knows what he has to do, knows what he can do that won’t be misconstrued by Bitty.

 

“Bitty,” he says, and it’s a soft, reverent whisper, barely audible even in the quiet vastness of Faber.  Bitty looks up, and Jack goes for it.  He takes his chance, his eyes fluttering shut as he leans in to kiss Bitty.

 

Their lips meet, and for a few long, absolutely terrifying seconds, Bitty doesn’t react, his lips still and unmoving.  And Jack moves to break the kiss, because this is clearly a rejection, but as he does, Bitty jolts to life, grabbing a handful of Jack’s shirt and forcefully dragging him back into the kiss.

 

It’s slow, but at the same time fervent and almost desperate, Bitty taking everything Jack offers him, clinging to him desperately, like Jack will disappear if Bitty lets go.  Jack runs out of breath first and breaks the kiss for real, and Bitty frowns, gazing up at him through half-lidded eyes.

 

“But at—at Winter Screw—you took her—and you kissed her—and I thought you were—but you just kissed me and—and…” Bitty stutters and then trails off, unable to find any other words to say.

 

Jack understands his confusion, because he knows that his Canadian hockey robot persona doesn’t exactly scream that he’s gay, and he never explained what happened at Winter Screw, scared off by the news of Jude’s parents coming to the Haus.  But now he can.

 

“I took Camilla to Winter Screw because we’d gone together before.  I thought we were just going as friends.  I mean…we were never anything more than that.  And I was too busy…well, watching you to pay attention to her, and so I agreed to the kiss without realizing it.  I didn’t want to.  I…I’ve liked you since way before that.”

 

Bitty’s hand come up to cover his open mouth.  “ _Jack Laurent Zimmermann!_   How come you never said anythin’ before?!” he exclaims.

 

“For a while I—I was waiting for you to make the first move,” Jack sighs, running a hand through his hair.  “But when Jude started coming around…and you seemed like you were getting close, I—I was getting pretty close to…you know, saying _fuck it_ and making a move anyway?  But I was too slow because you…well I thought you started dating Jude…and you seemed happy…and I didn’t want to be selfish and ruin that for you.”

 

“But then you found out that none of that was real—”

 

“And I realized—with a little push from Shits—that I didn’t want to wait and risk losing my shot again,” Jack finishes.

 

“Oh Jack,” Bitty giggles.  “Bless your oblivious Canadian heart!  I’ve liked you this whole time!  I just thought that you were straight…and dear _Lord_ , there was no way I was goin’ to make any kind of move on you.  You were my best friend and I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable!”

 

“So we were waiting on each other?” Jack inquires, his mouth curving up into an easy grin.

 

“I guess we were.”

 

“Jude was…well, I think he was the push I needed,” Jack chuckles.  “But I’m just curious, if you weren’t dating—then why are you both so close?”

 

“We uh…we were sharin’ a lot of the same experiences, y’know?” Bitty shrugs.  “He understood what I was goin’ through, and so he was someone I could talk to about everythin’ I was feelin’ for you.”

 

“So when you were on those ‘dates’…”

 

“I uh…spent the whole time talkin’ to him about you,” Bitty mumbles, blushing darkly.

 

“Guess I had no reason to be jealous of him, huh?”

 

“No you did not, Mr. Zimmermann,” Bitty says, smiling widely.  “But it’s very flatterin’ that you were.”

 

“You…you mean a lot to me Bitty,” Jack murmurs, and this time it’s his turn to blush.

 

“Oh stop it!” Bitty says, smacking Jack’s shoulder.  “You’re gonna make me start cryin’ again!”

 

“Sorry.”

 

“Don’t you say sorry, and don’t you _dare_ stop,” Bitty chides, giggling.  “I’m just goin’ to need to get used to it.”

 

“Yeah…I um, I’m probably going to say stuff like that a lot.”

 

“And I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.”

 

They sit for a few minutes, Jack with his arm around Bitty’s shoulders, until Bitty starts to shiver.

 

“We should probably get back to the Haus,” Jack remarks, because he’s honestly getting a little cold himself.

 

“Okay, just one sec,” Bitty responds.  He surges up and kisses Jack, leaving Jack dazed and smiling.  “Just wanted one more before we go.”

 

“There—” Jack pauses for a second to collect his jumbled thoughts.  “There’ll be plenty more chances for that," he eventually says.

 

“I’m lookin’ forward to it,” Bitty replies, standing up and offering Jack his hand, which Jack gladly takes, and holds the entire way back to the Haus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well friends, I have now wrapped up my part of this fic! Jack and Bitty are now together, and while I can't guarantee it will be easy, they have their happy ending! So we have just one more chapter to go, where we get to see how Jude and Connor's story comes to its conclusion.
> 
> But while I'm finishing up my part, I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who has read, commented, and left kudos on this fic. It was wonderful to see how y'all reacted to the story, and I just loved being a part of this :)
> 
> And so I also need to give a huge shoutout to G8rguy, for being so open and enthusiastic when I suggested making this fic into a collaboration almost immediately after I read the first chapter. I was so excited and inspired, and I just thank them so much for letting me be a part of this. It was so much fun, and it was a pleasure to collaborate with you! I look forward to seeing how you'll be bringing Jude and Connor's story to a close.
> 
> So again, thank you thank you _thank you_ to everyone involved with this fic in any way.  
>  \- Benjji


	12. Chapter 12

The door slams as Jack leaves the Haus and Shitty walks back into a room that seemed frozen in shock. Ransom and Holster were standing alone, a circle of space surrounding them, silently separating them from the others. Shitty sighs at the looks on their faces knowing that while wrong, they truly didn’t mean any harm, but they just did it the wrong way.

“You guys okay?” Shitty asked them causing them both to look over at him.

“I guess” Ransom said dejectedly.

“I’ve never seen Jack get that mad before” Holster says, his voice still defensive from when he was speaking before. “I mean not even when he was in pyscho hockey robot mode.” They all knew how Jack got before the season started, last year he even yelled at Bitty in front of everyone about not being serious enough, but this was different.

“We just wanted Bitty to be happy” Ransom said sadly. “We thought we were helping” he explained. “Do you think he will forgive us?” he whispered.

“Bitty?” Shitty snorted. “Of course. Bits doesn’t have the ability to hold a grudge guys. He got upset, sure, and emotional, but he loves both of you so he will forgive you. Heck he will probably bake you a pie to apologize for yelling at you” Shitty laughed.

The tension in their bodies started draining away from both of them as they realized that Bitty really wasn’t the type to be mad for long, especially when he knew that they were doing it because of how much there cared about him. The guys finally sat down and the rest of the team seemed to take a deep breath and the tension in the air was going away.

“Ahem” Larissa said into the quiet drawing everyone’s eyes. She had been watching the room, but mostly the corner where Jude and Connor were sitting. Jude was flushed and trying to avoid everyone’s eyes and apparently had been forgotten in the excitement by everyone except one person. Connor had been looking at the tall brunette with a look that she could only describe as hopeful.

“Rans, Holtzy” she said clearing her throat and causing them to look at her nervously. “While I agree with Shits…for the most part. I am not entirely sure that Bits is going to be quiet as quick to forgive you two” she said seriously.

Both boys looked at her uncertainly and she looked back and saw Shitty looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “Why not?” Shitty asked.

“Because” she answered looking back at the two d-men. “Bits wasn’t the only one who was affected by what you two were doing…and you have pretty much ignored him” she looked over and saw Jude suddenly look up at her in surprise.

It didn’t take more than a second for the boys, actually everyone, to remember and suddenly look over at Jude. Ransom and Holster were both up and running over to him apologizing profusely and sincerely causing Jude to back up until he ran into a solid surface. She wondered if he realized it was Connor that he was leaning against.

“Bro, we are so sorry man” Ransom told Jude. “We really thought you two were so cool together you know? We just wanted our boy to be happy.”

“And you too” Holster added. “You have been a cool guy to be around and it seemed like you two were good together and we just wanted…I guess for you to be really happy” he finished slowly before looking back at Ransom. “I guess we aren’t that good at this if we didn’t notice you two didn’t like each other.”

“Guys” Jude said carefully, “just because we are both gay doesn’t mean we automatically like each other…I mean like like. The fact is that we never even considered it till you two decided to set us up for Screw and even then it was like…no.” He looks at them and shakes his head. “We honestly thought that everyone would figure it out that we weren’t really dating at all but only Shitty and Lardo noticed. I mean we never actually went on a date.”

Ransom opened his mouth to reply but paused and looked at Shitty who was watching him and then shut it and shook his head.

“Better” Shitty muttered.

“Bitty was never interested in me guys, and me? I couldn’t see him that way” Jude said simply.

“Why?” a quiet voice said. Jude turned around and saw Connor looking at him with a strange expression.

Jude looked at him for a moment without saying anything before taking a deep breath. “Because I like someone else” Jude finally admits. “Bitty let me talk about it and he understood that it sucks when you have feelings for someone who doesn’t feel the same way” Jude sighed.

“That’s true for everyone” Larissa said gently, looking at him with a kind expression.

“I know” Jude smiled a sad smile “but when you’re gay…it’s different. But, it’s okay and you deal with it” Jude straightened up. “And guys” he looked at Ransom and Holster “I do forgive you. I know you didn’t mean any harm, but if you really want Eric’s forgiveness…do something nice for him with his kitchen. Clean it, buy groceries, do something. That would go a long way to making him feel better” Jude said smiling at them before they both engulfed him in a hug before running into the kitchen.

Jude watched them leave and sighed deeply and looked over at Lardo who had come to stand next to him. “You okay bro?” she asked softly.

“Will be” he replies just as softly. “But think I am going to go home. Would you let me know when you hear from Eric?” he asks her and she nods. Jude walks to the door and grabbing his coat, starts for his dorm room.

The rest of the team starts talking and Larissa moves over to Connor and sits beside him and smiles when he looks up at her mildly surprised.

She looks away but he can still hear her when she speaks softly. “You okay?” she asks.

“I guess…it’s been a pretty…crazy night. Bitty was really upset and then Jack got so mad, but…” Connor got quiet suddenly realizing he was about to reveal something he wasn’t supposed to know.

“Jack will find Bits and maybe they will actually talk, you know” she says with an arched eyebrow.

Connor looks at her and sees it. She knows! His eyes widen and he glances around but they are relatively alone. Dex, Nursey, and Chowder are still talking about doing something for Bitty but they aren’t paying attention to the two of them.

“You know?” Connor whispers carefully still not willing to give Jack up.

“About those two? It’s obvious if you are watching, but most people don’t” she looks around at the others. “But maybe this will be their chance to fix things.”

Connor just nods and hopes she is right. He knows about Jack’s feelings for Bitty so he hopes Lardo is right. “Maybe” he finally responds.

“What about you?” she asks him after another minute.

He looks up at her confused. “What do you mean?” he asked genuinely confused.

She looks at him in disbelief. He seriously can’t still be thinking… “are you going to fix things?” she decides to be direct.

Connor sighs deeply and shakes his head. “You heard him Lardo…he likes someone else” he says wistfully.

Larissa seriously wants to facepalm but she knows she can’t. “Oh” she says instead.

“Yeah” he says sadly.

“So who do you think it might be” she prods.

“I don’t know” he says clearly frustrated.

“You must have some idea” she pushes. “You two were close last term?”

“Yeah. I mean I thought we were friends. We hung out all the time and had a lot of fun but then the whole dating Bitty thing and Winter Screw thing happened” he told her. “I thought he might have mentioned if he was interested in someone, we talked every day. We were always eating together or studying together, hanging out at our rooms or here at the Haus. He had a ton of chances to tell me he was interested in someone.”

“Any reason why he wouldn’t have told you?” she asked rolling her eyes.

“No…I mean I don’t think so” he said a bit too forcefully. “Sure I didn’t actually know he was gay till he said he was going to the Screw with Bitty, but it never came up and he doesn’t seem like he was hiding things. I mean we didn’t really talk about exes or anything. He could have told me, I wouldn’t have cared.”

“Maybe telling you would have been difficult” she suggests.

“I don’t know why” Connor muttered.

Larissa wanted to smack the boy so hard… “Maybe he thought you would judge him for being gay” she said carefully keeping her tone even.

“No. We talked about his moms and I told him I thought it was cool so he had to know I was okay with it” Connor said still confused.

“Well then, if he was spending all his time with you, who...could…it…be?” saying each word with emphasis.

He looks at her getting frustrated. “I told you I have no idea. Maybe someone in a class or on campus he met…” Connor moans.

“Or on the team” she offers.

Connor looks shocked and he pales. “Oh god…I never thought of that.” He looks across the room and then his face falls. “Nursey or Dex…it’s got to be” he groans.

Larissa feels her blood pressure start to top out. Shits better have some stuff in his room after this because she is going to snap otherwise. “So Jude talks about one of them a lot?” she grits her teeth.

Connor frowns. “Actually no. He is nice and all, but he actually joked that he thought they would be a funny couple if they dated. We both laughed about that.” He smiled remembering that night when he made that joke after a particularly tense fight between his fellow frogs. After they had left with Chowder Jude had teased about all the unresolved sexual tension in the library and whether they would figure it out anytime soon.

Connor had remembered laughing and mentioning Ransom and Holster as the old married couple that they should mirror. The two of them had laughed really hard about that and Connor remember the smile that Jude had given him…suddenly his breath caught in his throat and his he paled. He slowly turned to Lardo who was watching him carefully. “Me?” he whispered, barely audible as if he said it too loudly the possibility might shatter.

“Finally” Lardo sighs with relief. “Took you long enough” she says shaking her head at him and he feels his heart pounding in his chest. “It’s obvious, if you are watching” she reminds him causing him to blush at his own obliviousness.

Suddenly he jumps up. “I’ve got to go” he mumbles and races for the door. He grabs his jacket and is out the door, ignoring the calls of Chowder and Dex who call for him to wait up. He starts running towards his and Jude’s dorm.

* * *

 

This has not been a good night for Jude he admits and while he had avoided most of the emotional upheaval personally, he felt bad for Bitty. Jude had told his family the truth after the Christmas dinner back at Mariana’s apartment. He had gotten yelled at for making everyone think he and Bitty were dating and his explanation didn’t go over too well with his moms. Mariana knew he was crushing on Connor and he had also admitted it to Callie as well, so it hadn’t been too bad for Jude with only the guys thinking they were dating.

Jude was about halfway home when he heard footsteps coming up from behind him. Turning around he saw a couple of the Lacrosse guys running across campus in their boxer shorts and sneakers and he laughed as they ran past him screaming. Lacrosse guys!

Letting his door shut behind him Jude sighed with relief to be back in his own space. He loved being in the Haus, it reminded him of being home with everything always going on, but there were times when he preferred to have his personal space too. Stepping towards his bed he tossed his jacket over the desk chair and sat down to pull off his shoes. Jude had just pulled his shirt off when someone knocked on his door and he walked over to the door. Opening it quickly to send whoever away, Jude froze as he saw Connor standing there panting and out of breath.

Connor was staring down at him for a moment before he looked up and into Jude's eyes and swallowed. “Is it true? You never liked Bitty?” he asks.

Jude frowns. Seriously? “Connor, I’m tired. I told all of you the truth and I just want to go to bed” he turns away and walks to his dresser. He hears the door close and he lets go of the breath he was holding unconsciously as his shoulders roll forward and he leans on the dresser.

He senses Connor standing behind him before he hears him and realizes that Connor didn't leave, but had followed him inside. This is too hard, he doesn’t want to look at him. Not now. He is too tired to keep pretending.

“The thing that confuses me” Connor says slowly as he walks up to Jude “is who you would have been around enough to develop a crush on. I mean we hung out almost all last semester and you never mentioned anyone” Connor says with a tease in his voice. “Then I thought that it must be someone on the team as you hung out at the Haus and with the team all the time. And since I’m on the team you might not want to tell me, hmm?” he said reasonably.

Jude doesn’t respond but Connor can see the tremble in his body and he reaches out but pulls back before making contact. He so badly wants to touch that skin.

“So I started thinking…who it could be” Connor’s voice was getting thicker and lower. “I considered Chowder” he paused when he heard Jude choke “but no…he’s not your type. Then I considered Nursey. He’s cool, hipster, handsome, and funny. Then there’s Dex who is a great guy too, also handsome though stressed. But then I remembered how you said they made a cute couple and if you were thinking that, you probably weren’t interested in them either” he reasoned.

Jude’s trembling was much more noticeable but he still hadn’t said anything but Connor smiled. How could he have missed this? He wondered why Lardo hadn’t just smacked him for taking so long to get it! Reaching out he brushed his fingertips across Jude’s shoulder, barely touching, but the reaction was instantaneous. He shuddered and Connor could swear he felt electricity shoot up his arm.

“I just couldn’t figure it out especially after the break. And I admit that I had a really difficult time sharing the attic with you, you know?” he says gently, moving his fingers across Jude’s back slowly feeling his trembling increase.

“Oh?” Jude’s voice was unsteady. “Why was that?” he asked, his voice cracking.

“Well…” Connor drawled out slowly, “those brightly colored briefs you always wore were really distracting” he chuckled. “I mean the first time I saw you in them I couldn’t even talk for a while. I thought I was going to die” he snickered again.

Jude froze and then turned around and Connor pulled his hand back just a bit before looking up into those dark brown eyes that were staring at him in disbelief.

“But…” Jude whispered.

Connor moved his fingers up to brush Jude’s lips with the lightest of touches. “I not exactly sure when it happened” he said looking back up to Jude’s eyes, “but I realized that I was totally in to you.” He smiled for a second before pulling his hand back. “Then the whole Bitty and Screw thing happened and I figured I had totally missed my chance” he said sadly.

Connor felt Jude’s hand as it slid along his cheek and he saw Jude’s eyes soften. “You haven’t” he whispered. Jude moved forward slowly, giving Connor every chance to pull away but there was no way he was going to do that. Connor closed his eyes a second before Jude did as their lips finally touched and Connor felt that electricity again, magnified like nothing before. He felt Jude’s other hand slide around his waist pulling him closer while Connor’s hands grasped Jude's hips above the waistband of his jeans, reveling in the warmth of his skin, and pulling him in closer.

They kissed for several minutes before Jude pulled back and they both gasped for air. “So…” Connor said with a smile “did you know that Jack likes Bitty?”

Jude pulled back in shock. “WHAT?!” he yells, eyes wide.

Connor chuckles. “Totally. We spent most of break talking about how the boys that we each liked were dating each other instead” Connor told him and laughed as he watched the emotions race across Jude’s face.

“But…but…isn’t Jack straight?” Jude finally asks.

“Bout as straight as me” Connor smirks as he leans in for a quick peck on Jude’s lips as his hand slides down for a quick squeeze causing Jude to jump.

“And Bitty is totally hung up on Jack” Jude smiles. “We spent most of last semester and the whole break talking about two straight boys we couldn’t have” he tells the blonde in his arms.

“We’re idiots” Connor leans forward till their foreheads are pressed together.

“Morons” Jude agrees. Then he starts to giggle.

“What’s so funny?” Connor asks with a smile.

“You like my underwear?” Jude teases.

Connor rolls his eyes. “No I don’t” he corrects the brunette with a tease in his voice.

“You don’t?” Jude says with one eyebrow raised almost to his hairline.

“No” Connor growls “I love em!” Jude laughs as Connor spins them around and they crash onto Jude’s bed with Jude landing on top of Connor.

Jude smiles down at the happy blonde beneath him and leans in for another kiss. They will talk later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the final chapter and conclusion to this story and unlike reality, in my mind...all the stress and difficulties will be solvable, happy endings will happen, and they will live together in perfect happiness.
> 
> I would also like to add my thanks to everyone who had followed along and shared their thoughts with us on this story. It's really great to hear from readers and when they share their thoughts it's a great motivation for those of us that write.
> 
> Finally I want to say a special thanks to Benjjy2795 (thanks B!) for being so great to work with. This was my first online collaboration and when I wrote the first chapter I wasn't sure if I would make it a full story or exactly where it would go when Ben suggested working together. It's been really fun to work on developing this story and the characters and seeing it come to life. I wasn't sure how this was going to work but it turned out much better than I would have guessed. So thanks again B - it's been a great adventure!
> 
> \- g8rguy


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